


Fate

by bansheequeen (queenbanshee), xtremeroswellian



Category: Smallville
Genre: AU, Alternate Dimensions, BAMF Chloe Sullivan, Becoming a superhero is hard work, F/M, Fake muggings, Falling In Love, Kissing, Oliver is very confused, Scheming, Slow Burn, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:01:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 30,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24113209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: A series of unexpected meetings leads Chloe to move to Star City to help a struggling Oliver Queen become the man he's destined to become.
Relationships: Chloe Sullivan & Clark Kent, Oliver Queen & Chloe Sullivan, Oliver Queen/Chloe Sullivan
Comments: 7
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

  


She had no idea what was going on, all she knew is that all of the sudden, there was a strong wind hitting her, her first thought was that it was Clark, she had been ready to yell at him, but then she realized her surroundings. She was on her feet, and the wind hadn't been Clark, but apparently a car. She was standing in the middle of a street, cars honking and speeding on both sides. Her eyes widened as she looked around breathlessly, keeping her arms close to herself as she tried to find a way to the sidewalk, but it was dark and the headlights from the cars kept hitting her eyes, she felt dizzy and disoriented, she had no idea what was happening.

At that moment, strong arms wrapped around her tightly as she was propelled into the air, soaring above the traffic.

Chloe gasped, holding on to the person who had picked her up instinctively, her eyes closing tightly until they stopped, her heart beating fast as she sighed deeply, "good timing as always, Clark," she breathed, opening her eyes a second later and stilling when she found herself staring at a green vest rather than a red or blue shirt.

He cocked his head to the side, staring at her from behind dark glasses, the hood he wore hiding most of his face. _No way_ , he thought, his eyes widening a little with realization.

She blinked and stared up at the hooded man, quickly pulling her arms from around him and taking a step back, "oh, hm thanks?"

He held his hands up, as if surrendering. "It's okay. You're perfectly safe. I'm not going to hurt you."

"Who are you?" She asked, she wasn't stupid to just take his word for it but at the same time, he had just saved her life, kind of.

"The Green Arrow," he told her, watching her intently, his heart beating quickly in his chest.

"Green Arrow?" Chloe asked, frowning, she had never heard of him before but since the Angel of Vengeance, she was open to new names coming to Metropolis. "are you a vigilante?"

A smile tugged at his mouth at that. "I guess that's definitely one word for it."

"Well," Chloe said, taking a deep breath, "if you wouldn't mind giving me a ride back down, I will--" she stilled as she looked around, seeing _the ocean_ right across from the building, "when did Kansas become a coastal state?" She asked, swallowing hard.

"This would be a really inappropriate appropriate time to joke about how you're not in Kansas anymore, wouldn't it?" He moved over so he was standing beside her, looking out over the ocean, as well.

"Call me Dorothy and I'll make sure to refer to you as a flying monkey in my articles," she told him, her stomach turning as she looked down, "where am I?" She asked, turning to look at him, "and you better not answer Oz." She warned.

He smiled involuntarily. "Star City, California," he told her, his voice distorted. He reached up and turned it off. "But I think we have a slightly bigger problem than that."

Chloe blinked, surprised when his voice sounded normal instead of like it had before, "you don't know how to get us down?"

"That's not an issue," he told her, shaking his head. "The problem is I think you've managed to jump universes."

"What? What do you mean jump universes?" She asked, taking a step away from him, just in case he was crazy.

"It's okay," he said, his voice growing softer. "I would never hurt you." He reached up and pushed back his hood, then removed his glasses.

Her eyes widened as he revealed himself to her, he looked vaguely familiar, but she wasn't about to try to figure out why right now, "what are you doing and what are you talking about?" She asked suspiciously. Vigilantes didn't just _reveal_ their identities.

"I'm Oliver Queen," he said quietly, offering her a small, albeit genuine smile. "And I know I can trust you because I know this world's version of you." That was an understatement. "And she's the most trustworthy person I know."

"As in, Queen Industries Oliver Queen?" Chloe asked, shocked before squinting, "what's my name, then?"

"The very one," he confirmed, nodding. "And _you_ are Chloe Sullivan." He grinned.

She blew out her breath and nodded a little, "okay, there is no way the real you would know my name unless we _are_ in some creepy alternate reality so, how do I get back?"

Oliver shook his head a little. "It's not creepy," he told her. "And I don't know on the second part. But I think we both know someone who might."

"Look, I was just sitting in my dorm, trying to do my statistics homework and then I was suddenly in the middle of that street, nearly getting sandwiched by two mack trucks, I think I get to call it creepy," she told him, she knew she was babbling, but damnit, she was nervous and freaked out, "who?"

A faint smirk tugged at his mouth at the mention of _mack trucks_ , but he didn't comment on it. "Breathe, Chloe," he said gently. "And my guess is, this has something to do with Clark Kent." It usually did when something strange happened.

"Like every other creepy aspect of my life," Chloe said, rolling her eyes, "so where is he? Maybe he can help me back."

He blew out a breath, reaching up and rubbing the back of his neck. "Unfortunately he's at his ice castle," he told her. "So we'll have to see what J'onn can come up with."

Chloe opened her mouth and closed it, he knew about the fortress, so he had to be in their circle of trust. "I have no idea who J'onn is, but I guess I have no choice but to trust you with this."

Oliver paused at that. "Just trust me when I say you're the last person on earth I'd ever hurt intentionally." His voice was quiet.

"Why is that?" She asked quietly, watching him closely.

He smiled faintly and held out his left hand, revealing the simple silver band on his finger.

Her mouth dropped open as she stared down at the obvious wedding ring, she looked at it for a moment then glanced up at him, eyes wide, "holy crap, a version of me _married_ Oliver Queen!?"

He smiled at her. "After a hell of a lot of convincing, yes."

" _You_ had to convince _me_? What am I? Stupid?" She asked, blinking.

His expression softened at that and he shook his head. "Not at all, no." He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "Let's just say it was a long road." His smile was faint.

Chloe stared at him for a moment then pursed her lips together, "so what do we do now?"

He nodded a little and reached up, pressing the comm link in his ear. "Arrow to Watchtower."

Her eyes widened a little as she watched him.

_"Coming home yet, Arrow?"_

Oliver couldn't help but smile. "Not yet. Let's just say I had a bit of a surprise. Is Martian Manhunter tied up at the moment?"

 _"Give me a second,"_ there was a pause, _"he's in the mission with Cyborg, they should be done in half an hour, do you need back up?"_

"No, I'm okay," he assured her. "Can you do me a favor and send him to the top of the Gazette when he's done?"

_"I'll see if I can get him there faster than that, stay safe, I'll update you."_

"Thanks, Tower." His voice softened. "Love you. See you soon."

_"Love you, Arrow."_

Chloe hadn't moved, she was still staring at him as she listened closely to the conversation.

Smiling softly without even realizing it, he looked back at her, then blinked a couple of times. "It's gonna be a short wait. J'onn's on another mission right now. He'll be here soon."

"Is he really a martian?" She asked.

Oliver raised his eyebrows a little and nodded. "He is."

Chloe shifted a little between her feet and nodded, "was that the other me?"

He nodded a little, watching her carefully. "It was," he confirmed. "There's a team of us. You--well--she--runs the operation."

"You mean like she tells you where to go and who to help?" Chloe asked, raising her eyebrows, she had sort of done that with Clark before in a way that she had told him who was in trouble and stuff.

"That's part of it, yeah." He nodded. "But she does a lot of other stuff, too."

"Like what?" Chloe asked, glancing at him then moving over to the edge of the building and sitting down, it looked like they were stuck there for a while anyway.

"Keeps us grounded, for one." He watched her for a moment, feeling a little nervous about how close to the edge of the building she was. He moved over to sit down beside her. "She also has a way of motivating us like no one else could." He glanced at her sideways.

She looked at him for a moment and pursed her lips together, "how did you two meet?"

Oliver smiled at that. "Through Clark. We actually met in his barn."

" _You_ were at the barn?" Chloe asked, surprised, "why?"

"I was visiting Clark. We knew each other from the whole vigilante thing," he admitted.

"Oh," she nodded a little, at least that made sense, "how long have you been together?"

"Three years," he told her with a soft smile, looking down at his ring. "But we've known each other a long time."

"Do you have any kids?" She asked, cocking her head.

His smile brightened a little more at that. "We will soon," he told her. "In about three months."

"She's _pregnant_?" Chloe asked, eyes widening again.

Oliver nodded. "A boy," he said, gazing at her. "We haven't decided on a name yet."

"Whoa..." she said, blinking, "and she didn't freak out?"

He chuckled a little. "Well, just a little at first. But we got past it."

"I think I would have freaked out a lot, were you guys already married when she got pregnant?" She asked.

"Yeah, thankfully. I wouldn't have dared to ask her to marry me if we hadn't been. At least not right away."

She smirked a little at that and nodded, "probably a good idea."

He grinned and tapped his temple with his index finger. "I know her, believe me."

"Apparently you do," Chloe said quietly then looked out at the ocean, "are you two happy?"

"I'm happier than I've ever been," he said without hesitation, gazing at her.

She smiled a little and glanced at him, "do you think I'll meet you too?"

"I hope so," he said quietly. "How old are you right now?"

"Twenty," she told him, pursing her lips together.

Oliver cocked his head to the side, considering for a moment. "We met when you were twenty."

"Oh," she raised her eyebrows, "so I haven't missed the opportunity?"

"I don't think so. Assuming things happen the way they did here."

Chloe started to nod then paused, "well, maybe they didn't though, I mean, did the other me show up in another dimension for a while too?"

Oliver paused, as well. "Not that I know of," he admitted quietly.

Her face fell a little and she nodded, shrugging as she looked back out at the ocean, "so how long until your friend gets here?"

"Chloe." His voice was quiet and he reached out hesitantly, touching her hand.

She arched an eyebrow and looked over at him, pursing her lips together. Maybe he did know her really well.

"I know this is weird." He gazed at her intently. "But somehow, I don't think you ending up here, now, was a coincidence."

"I've seen weirder," she told him, it wasn't true, this was definitely the weirdest thing that had ever happened to her, but she was no stranger to weird, "what do you think this is?"

"Fate?" Oliver suggested, raising his eyebrows. "A way to show you that..." He paused.

"That what?" Chloe asked, frowning curiously.

A faint, mysterious smile touched his mouth. "That even if Clark Kent doesn't see you...someone out there does."

Her eyes widened a little at that and she looked away, her cheeks hot, "somehow, I don't think I'm important enough for 'fate' to go through all this trouble just to prove me something about my love life."

"I think that you're a lot more important than you'll ever give yourself credit for."

She shrugged a little and kept her eyes on the ocean, "yeah, well, maybe I'll believe that when I actually make a difference."

"Do me a favor?" His voice was quiet.

Chloe pursed her lips together for a moment, still staring at the ocean then took a deep breath, reluctantly turning to look at him.

"Stay open to the possibilities," he whispered. He lifted a hand to her temple. "Here. And in your heart."

She stared at him for a moment then shrugged a little and nodded, "I'll try." She said quietly, a little uncomfortable, not because of what he had said or done, but because other than Lois, no one read her that easily, not even Clark.

At that moment, there was a gust of wind that announced J'onn's arrival.

Oliver took a deep breath and looked up, offering the other man a smile. "J'onn. Thanks for coming."

J'onn smiled at Oliver and nodded a little at him, turning to look at the woman.

Chloe's eyes widened as the man just _flew_ up on the roof, she had never met anyone who could fly before. Maybe it was a martian thing... at least he wasn't green like the normal martians from movies. She swallowed hard and looked over at him as she stood up quickly.

"It's nice to meet you again, Chloe." J'onn said with a kind smile, "as a matter of fact, we martians _are_ indeed green, this is just what I chose to look like here on Earth."

Oliver shook his head a little, and glanced back at her. "Chloe, this is J'onn Jones. He's a good friend."

She heard Oliver's words, but didn't take her eyes off the _Martian_. Sure, she knew a Kryptonian, but Mars was a planet she had actually heard about before. "How did you do that?"

He held his hand out to Chloe and shook it when she extended hers, "telepathy is one of my abilities."

A smile tugged at his mouth and he raised his eyebrows. "We're not quite sure how Chloe ended up here," he said to J'onn.

J'onn frowned a little, watching Chloe for a moment, "Fate," he said quietly.

At that, Chloe rolled her eyes, "great, that's an awesome explanation." She said sarcastically.

Oliver turned to look at him, his eyes widening. "Do you mean..."

J'onn nodded at Oliver, not needing to hear the words out loud, or even read his mind to know he had understood. "I can take you back, Chloe." He assured her.

Chloe frowned, looking at Oliver then back at J'onn, "what? How? In a space ship or something?"

He shook his head and held his hand out for her, "I can phase through dimensions, we shouldn't waste anymore time if you want your answers."

Oliver took a step closer to her. "You'll be okay," he said softly.

She held her breath and looked over at Oliver, her chest tight but she nodded a little.

"I promise." His voice was quiet, certain. He offered her a smile. "Remember what I said earlier."

Nodding a little, she looked at him for a moment longer, "make sure she knows how lucky she is to have you around," Chloe told him quietly then hesitantly stepped closer to J'onn and took his hand.

He held his breath, shaking his head. "Trust me when I say I'm the lucky one." He met her eyes.

She looked at him for a moment longer, holding her breath as he started to fade away, she felt like she was falling and even as she felt J'onn's large hand wrapped tightly around hers, everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

When she opened her eyes again, she was laying on her bed, the lights to her room were on. With a gasp, she sat up and looked around with wide eyes, her laptop was sitting on the foot of her bed and it was still on, the paper she'd been working on still on the screen but more importantly, she was alone. No billionaire, no martian, just her.

Chloe rubbed her hands over her face and shook her head, "there is no way that was all a dream," she muttered, starting to get up from her bed to call Clark when a bright, blinding light hit her and she was sitting down again, all of the sudden, no longer alone.

A tall, she assumed man, was standing there. He was wearing a blue suit, with a yellow cape and a creepy golden mask and at this point, all Chloe could do was stare.

"Chloe Sullivan."

She swallowed, sitting up straight, "yes?"

"You are needed elsewhere."

"What?" She shook her head a little, "who are you?"

"I am Doctor Fate," he informed her.

"Doctor _Fate_?" She asked, eyes narrowing, "are you the Fate they kept talking about then?"

"Your destiny is not Clark Kent." His voice was firm.

She blinked and raised her eyebrows, "yeah, I kinda figured that out a while back."

"It's also not here in Metropolis."

"What do you mean?" She asked, "where am I supposed to be?"

He tilted his head just slightly. "The man that you met today will not become the hero that he is without you."

She blinked, shaking her head, "what? Oliver Queen, you mean?"

Dr. Fate nodded slightly.

"But he said he already was a vigilante when he met me," Chloe told him, "that's _why_ we meet."

"You are not in the same dimension as _that_ Oliver Queen," he informed her. "The one in this world is not the same man you met."

"And how am I supposed to help him? He doesn't even know me..." Chloe said, shaking her head.

"How do you help anyone, Chloe Sullivan?"

"You know," Chloe said, taking a deep breath as she stood up, "the whole cryptic stuff doesn't _actually_ help."

"Go to Star City. Before it's too late." Without waiting for a response, he vanished in a flash of bright light.

She closed her eyes then blinked a couple of times, shaking her head as she looked around, confused. So she had to go to Star City and tell none other than Oliver Queen what to do. Yeah, that sounded like it was going to be incredibly easy.

* * *

A gust of wind announced Clark's arrival, and papers went flying all over the room. He started to give her a sheepish smile, but froze when he saw she was packing things into a suitcase. "Chloe? What's going on?"

She blinked and looked up at him, "good, you're here." She said, smiling as she folded a jacket into her suitcase, "I'll need your help."

His eyebrows furrowed. "Help with what?"

Chloe bit down on her bottom lip, "I'm moving to Star City," she told him, holding her breath. She had already requested a transfer and luckily, the company that was paying for her scholarship was also affiliated with Star City University so she was still getting the full ride even though she was changing schools.

"You're--what? Why?" He shook his head, his eyes wide as he stared at her.

She took a deep breath and shook her head, "something really weird happened a couple of nights ago," she said, then went on to tell him about her trip to the different universe, which sounded like she had just been high on something, but she knew Clark knew her better than that, and then she continued with telling him about Doctor Fate showing up there and telling her what she had to do.

"And I have been doing research on Oliver Queen and he does seem pretty messed up ever since he got back from that island six months ago and there have been _no_ mentions of Green Arrow anywhere."

Clark was silent for a long moment, sitting down on the edge of her bed as he tried to process all of that news. "But Star City is really far away."

"Not for you it isn't," she said brightly, "which is why I'm hoping you can give me a ride so I can look at places before I decide which one I'm moving into."

"I think this is a bad idea," he said quietly, looking up at her.

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded a little as she sat down next to him, "I thought you were going to say that, but I have to try, Clark."

"Why? You don't even know this guy, Chloe." He shook his head.

"Because he saved my life," she told him, "and what if I don't go and all the people he was supposed to save die because _I_ didn't do what I was supposed to?"

Clark was silent for a moment, and he sighed softly. "And what if you go and get hurt?"

"I can still call you and have you pick me up if I need help, right?" She asked quietly, cocking her head.

"Of course," he whispered, turning his head to look at her, worry in his eyes.

"Besides," she said, smiling softly at him, "when you come visit me, which I expect it to be often by the way, we can hang out at the beach."

A faint smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. Then he sighed softly. "And there's nothing I can do to talk you out of this?"

"I have to give it a try, Clark," she said quietly, "if it doesn't work, I don't plan on staying there. I'm giving it six months."

He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "All right."

Chloe held her breath a little then looked over at him, "think you can help me move?"

"I can do that." He smiled faintly.

"Great!" She said brightly, standing up and going back to packing. "And you are welcome to join me on the road trip there too."

"I wish I could." He offered her a sad smile. "But I promised Lana we could spend some time together, just the two of us."

"Oh," Chloe nodded a little, "that makes sense," she said, that also reassured her that she had made the right decision.

"Rain check?" he asked hopefully.

"Definitely," Chloe smiled at him, then turned back to her suitcase when something on the TV caught her attention and she turned toward it, "Clark? Can you turn that up?" She asked since the remote was right next to him.

"Sure." Clark picked up the remote and turned the volume up.

Her heart skipped a beat as a picture of Oliver popped up on the screen, he looked younger than the version of him she'd met, but also unhealthy. He had dark circles under his eyes and he looked exhausted in the paparazzi picture the news channel was showing.

Clark raised his eyebrows. "That's him, right?"

"Yeah," she said quietly, keeping her eyes on the TV. Apparently Oliver had gotten removed from a local bar after a fight with three other men, all of whom were not pressing charges against him.

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Chloe, are you sure being around that guy's going to be _safe_ for you?"

"I think things like this is exactly why I should be going," she told him, "to help him."

Clark didn't look very assured about that.

"I'll be careful," she promised, trying for a smile as she looked at him, "I'll be okay." Or at least, she hoped she would be.

* * *

It took her less than a week to get everything for the move together. The semester had been almost over anyway so she talked a couple of her teachers into letting her take her finals ahead of time and then she was on her way.

The drive had taken a little longer than she'd expected since she was driving on her own and it was exhausting, but at least her Bug had survived it and she had found her way around Star City without much of a problem. Clark had helped her take everything up to her third floor dorm room, a single, luckily and she had managed to unpack most of her things.

But she hadn't been too worried about unpacking. She had been spending most of her time researching Oliver, trying to figure out his patterns, when he went to work, when he left work and it was harder than she thought. She'd found herself spending most of the days sitting outside Queen Industries, keeping a log of his times while trying to figure out when and how she should approach him.

She was keeping busy because if she stopped to think about what she was doing, she knew she would just have to commit herself to a mental hospital. She had, after all, just moved halfway across the country just to try and put one of the nation's richest men back in his track. A man she didn't even know yet and who, in some twisted universe, was the love of her life or something pretty close to it if the look on his face was anything to go by.

It made no sense, but she felt like it was the right decision for her. She loved Metropolis, it was her home and where whatever little family she had was, but her life had been too tied up with Clark's. He was her best friend and she loved him, but she wasn't his priority, Lana was. She felt like maybe she needed to sort out her own priorities so their friendship would be on even grounds for a change and for that, she needed some distance from him and this had been the perfect opportunity for her to put that space between them and maybe, just _maybe_ she could actually make a difference in Oliver's life.


	3. Chapter 3

Oliver didn't bother taking home a briefcase that night. There was no point. Not really. The board wasn't about to let him make any decisions anyway. Not that he could blame them. He'd made a vow on the island that when he got back, he'd be different. That he'd _make_ a difference. Instead, all he'd done was the same thing he'd always done--screw up everything he touched.

He made his way out the door of the company, his face pale. He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept for more than an hour or two. He rubbed a hand over his face, wincing a little involuntarily as his fingers made contact with the bruise on his jaw--just the latest in a series since he'd been back.

He couldn't say karma wasn't real--he was getting everything he deserved, a little at a time.

After watching him for almost two weeks, mostly because she couldn't think of how she should approach him, she finally made her way across the street when he left the building, her heart beating quickly against her chest as she shifted her purse over her shoulder, "Mr. Queen?" She called, pursing her lips together as she stood a couple of feet behind him.

He drew in a breath and turned to see a pretty blond standing there. He tried to remember if he'd ever seen her before, but he drew a blank. "Yes?" His voice was uncertain.

Now that she was standing so close to him, she was even more nervous, she could barely remember what she had planned and that _never_ happened to her.

She stared for a second then held out her hand, "Chloe Sullivan," she said quietly.

Oliver stared at her hand for a moment, then slowly extended his own, starting when he felt a flicker of electricity go through him as he shook her hand.

Chloe felt it too, her eyes widening as she looked down at their hands, her stomach suddenly tight, her brain blank for a second, "I-- it's nice to meet you."

"Likewise," he murmured, looking as shell-shocked as she did. "Do you need something?"

She swallowed and licked her lips, her mouth suddenly felt dry and she shook her head, "I... was hoping we could talk?" This was horrible, he was never going to agree to going anywhere with her like this.

He blinked a couple of times, still staring at her. "Do we know each other?"

"No," she told him quietly, "not really."

"So we've never met before?" he asked uncertainly, searching her eyes.

"That's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about," she said quietly, brushing her hair behind her ear nervously.

Oliver's eyebrows furrowed. "Okay..."

Chloe sighed in frustration and shook her head a little, "look, it's going to sound crazy no matter how I put it, but the bottom line is, I'm here to help you. And I know you have no reason to believe me, let alone trust me, but that's the truth."

"Wait." He held up a hand. "Here to help me with what?" he asked, a little bewildered.

"Get your life back on track." She admitted.

He blinked at that, then narrowed his eyes at her, his jaw tightening. "I don't need help."

"You obviously do," she pointed out, taking a step forward, "you're a mess and from what I can tell, so is your life."

"And you care because...?"

"Because you should be making a difference, you should be _helping_ people, not wasting your life."

Oliver stared at her. "Did someone put you up to this?" he asked, shaking his head, his voice even.

"No," well, she didn't think telling him an older version of himself, a martian and some guy in a mask was going to help her case. It sounded like the beginning of a bad joke, really, "I told you it sounded crazy, so I'm willing to do whatever you need me to to trust me."

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "Look, Miss Sullivan..." He rubbed a hand over his face tiredly. "It's been a long day and I'm exhausted. I don't really know what it is you want here, but I'm sure you'll have no trouble finding someone else to help." He shook his head a little, turning and heading away from her.

"Oliver, wait," she called, walking after him and forgetting about the formalities, "I know you know you're capable of doing a lot more than what you're doing right now," she knew nothing, but she hoped her words would at least make him stop. "I know you _want_ to do more."

He paused in his tracks and slowly turned to face her once more, his eyes distant this time. "I _want_ a lot of things. That doesn't mean I'm going to get them."

"But this is something you _can_ have," she told him, walking up to him once more, her voice softer this time, "I can help you get it."

He held his breath as he met her eyes once more, a little thrown by the intensity in hers. "How?" he couldn't help but ask.

"If we can go somewhere to talk, I can explain," or she hoped she could, "wherever you want to go so you know I'm not trying to trap you anywhere."

Oliver stared at her for a moment, then looked away. "Fine. My penthouse suite. Are you comfortable with that?"

"Yeah," Chloe said quietly, "as long as we're clear that I'm not planning on sleeping with you." She had _some_ sense of self-preservation after all.

He turned his head to look at her once more. "Crystal," he said flatly.

She blew out a breath and nodded a little, adjusting her purse over her shoulder, "lead the way," she said, even if she knew exactly where he was going.

He eyed her for a moment, then shook his head, turning and moving in the direction of his building.

Chloe sighed deeply and pursed her lips together, she had to get herself to relax and pull herself together now that he had given her a second chance. Seeing him up close and actually talking to him was harder than she thought it would be.

The other Oliver just seemed to have a brightness in his eyes that this one was missing and she knew it was her job to find a way to make him feel better about himself and his life, however she had to, even if it meant just helping him find someone else that would make him as happy as the other her made the other Oliver. Like the man in the mask had told her, this reality was different.

* * *

A little while later, Oliver led her inside the penthouse suite, loosening his tie a little as he turned to look at her. "You want something to drink?" he asked politely.

"I'm okay, thank you," she told him, holding her breath as she looked around the spacious penthouse.

He nodded, watching her for a moment, then motioning toward the sofa. "Have a seat."

Chloe brushed her hands over her sides and nodded a little as she made her way toward the couch, holding her breath as she tried to think of how to best start this particular conversation.

Oliver kept his eyes on her even as he moved to the small wet bar across the room and poured himself a glass of scotch, taking a small sip.

She shifted uncomfortably on her seat and took a deep breath, "do you like archery?" She asked finally, her eyes on him. This was worst than the awkwardest date she'd ever been on and that was saying something.

Out of everything she could have said, that was the _one_ thing he actually hadn't been expecting. "...what?"

"Archery," she repeated, sitting up, "bow and arrow and all of that, are you good at it?"

He stared at her for a long moment, then set his glass down on the bar before making his way over to her. "Who _are_ you?"

She had to try her best not to smile at his reaction, she was definitely going to take that as a yes. "I told you, I'm Chloe."

"How do you know that I like archery? That I'm good at it?" He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Because that's what you're _supposed_ to be focusing on," she told him, sitting up and looking up at him.

"Says who?" he asked, bewildered, shaking his head.

Chloe took a deep breath and placed her purse on the couch before standing up, "did you ever consider it before? Doing _more_ than just helping people through charities with your money? Actually getting out there and saving lives?"

Oliver stared at her blankly.

"Just answer this one question," she said quietly, watching him closely.

"Saving lives? How? By jumping around from rooftop to rooftop shooting arrows at bad guys?" His voice was dubious.

"Well it's a little more complex than that," she told him, smiling softly, "but you got the general idea."

He blinked, staring at her once more. "You're _serious_?"

"Other people out there already do it, Oliver. You have the skills and you can have the discipline to do it, why not give it a try?"

"Whoa, wait. What do you mean other people already do it?" His eyes were wide at that information.

"There are plenty of vigilantes out there, I have piles of articles back at my place if you need proof." She explained calmly, giving him some time to digest the information.

Oliver rubbed a hand over his face. "Like that guy in New York that supposedly can climb up the sides of buildings?"

"Spiderman," Chloe nodded, smiling a little, "and the Red and Blue Blur in Metropolis and the Batman in Gotham."

"You're telling me they're not urban legends? That they're real?"

"I can tell you with one hundred percent certainty that at least one of them is real," she told him, her heart beating fast against her chest.

He turned away from her, shaking his head a little. "This is crazy."

"I know," she told him, sighing softly, "I told you it sounded crazy, but the truth is, it's doable and I can _help_ you."

Oliver was silent for a moment. "Why?"

"Because it's what you should be doing," she said quietly, "and I know somewhere inside you know that's true."

He turned to look at her once more, staring at her silently.

Chloe cocked her head a little and watched him closely, "don't you?" She asked quietly.

"It's insane, Chloe."

"I know it is..." she took a deep breath and looked away, "you don't have to give me an answer now, I can leave you my number and you can call me when you're ready to talk about this."

"Why are you even doing this?" he questioned, staring at her. "You don't know me."

"Because the world needs all the help it can get," she told him quietly. She didn't think telling him the truth was going to help him believe her, she planned on telling him, just not yet.

He held his breath for a moment. "And that's what you do?"

"What I do?" She asked, confused.

"Go around telling people to become vigilantes?" He raised his eyebrows at her.

"Oh," she took a deep breath, "I have helped one of them before," she told him, smiling a little, "but maybe if it works out with you, I can make a career out of it." She was teasing. Mostly.

Oliver wasn't sure what to make of her response, so he just stared at her. "Oh."

She took a deep breath and shook her head a little, "I just want you to see your true potential," she said quietly, her chest suddenly tight, "if you decide it's not for you, I will leave you alone."

He watched her for a moment longer. "You're leaving your number?"

Chloe smiled a little at him then nodded, she walked over to her purse and pulled it open, digging for a pen and paper and finding both a second later then scribbling her name and number before turning to him and holding the paper out to him.

He looked down at it, and then back up at her once more, falling silent.

She held his gaze, her heart skipping a beat as she did. "I know I'm not telling you much about how I found you or why I want to help _you_ ," she said quietly, "but I promise I'll answer all your questions with time."

"I'll call you when I make a decision."

Chloe's optimism dropped instantly and she nodded a little, "It was nice meeting you," she said quietly, looking at him for a second before reaching for her purse and making her way to the door.

"Wait." He exhaled slowly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Holding her breath, she stilled and slowly turned to face him again, "yeah?"

"I don't know why you're doing this, but uh...seriously. There are better people out there than me to help." His voice was quiet.

She pursed her lips together and shook her head a little, " _you_ are needed, Oliver," she said quietly, "you are my concern, not them."

Oliver gazed at her silently, then looked down at the floor.

"Let me know once you make up your mind," she said quietly before turning around and heading to the door once more.

He swallowed hard, watching her go and feeling dazed.

What the hell had just happened?


	4. Chapter 4

  


It had been two whole weeks since she'd spoken with Oliver and she still hadn't heard from him. To say she was getting impatient was a huge understatement. She had kept an eye out for him, had watched him every now and then and maybe it was just her imagination, but she felt like there had been very subtle changes in him. She was watching him for a distance but the circles under his eyes didn't seem as bad and his posture was better too. He'd been showing up to work earlier as well and all those little hints gave her hope.

But she was still restless and she felt like she had to prove a point to him. If she wanted him to jump into this, she was going to nudge him off the edge of the cliff. Which was why she was currently impatiently waiting for Clark to come over, he was an essential part of her plan after all.

At that moment, Clark rushed into her room, scattering papers and pens all over the room. "What's up?"

Chloe sighed and rolled her eyes, "Clark, how many times do I have to tell you to put on the breaks _before_ you get inside?" She asked, frowning at him.

He offered her a bright grin and moved to pick up the things he'd tornadoe'd. "Sorry."

"You're in a good mood..." she commented, arching an eyebrow as she reached to pick up her papers too.

He shrugged and moved over to her, hugging her tightly then letting her go. "Maybe I'm just glad to see you."

She frowned and hugged him back then shook her head, "yeah, right," Chloe didn't want to ask, but she felt like she had to, "did you and Lana finally have sex again?"

His eyes widened at that. " _Chloe_!" His cheeks turned red.

" _What_? I don't want details, just a yes or no, considering your good mood, I don't think it's that far-fetched an assumption."

He shook his head a little. "Maybe," he relented, still blushing.

Chloe blinked and raised her eyebrows, "oh," she said, now feeling awkward, "that's good, progress and all that."

"Right." He nodded, also feeling awkward. "So uh...you said you needed my help?"

"Right," Chloe nodded, placing the pile of papers that she had picked up on her desk before turning to him, glad to get back to the reason why he was there in the first place, talking about Clark and Lana's sex life was _not_ in the program, "remember when we set up a scene to get the Angel of Vengeance's attention?"

"Like I could forget that." He grinned at her, plopping down on the edge of her bed. "You're a terrible actress."

"Like you're any better, DeNiro." She said, arching an eyebrow at him, "anyway, that show needs a sequel."

"You're kidding, right?" He frowned a little.

Chloe shook her head a little, "it's not a big deal, I just want to get Oliver's attention," she told him, "he's human and if he knows some kind of martial arts, he probably hasn't been practicing, I need to prove to him he can be a hero if someone needs him to."

Clark was silent for a moment. "I take it you haven't had much luck with him."

She pursed her lips together, "I'm not sure, I thought I had. He seemed freaked out but slightly intrigued by what I was telling him, I just thought I would have heard from him by now."

"Maybe he's not the guy you were hoping," he said quietly.

"Maybe," she said, although she didn't believe that, "but it's too early to give up on him."

He drew in a breath. "All right. So what do you want me to do?"

"Same as last time," she said, "we wait for him to be outside, you pretend you're mugging me, when he comes help me," which she really, _really_ hoped would happen, "you take off, but leave my purse so he doesn't try to go after you and don't use superspeed."

Clark raised his eyebrows. "What if he _does_ come after me?"

"Just vanish," she told him, "depending on how he reacts, I'll tell him the truth right away, but it might not be the best idea if he's slightly freaked out."

He nodded a little. "What if it doesn't work?" His voice was quiet.

"Then we'll come up with something else," she told him, determination clear on her face.

A faint smile tugged at Clark's mouth. "You know, with you on his side, he just might stand a chance."

Chloe blinked at that and raised her eyebrows, surprised for a moment then she smiled at him, "let's hope you're right."

* * *

It was after eight o'clock that night and Oliver was finally leaving Queen Industries after a very long day. But he thought he was starting to make a little headway with the board. Not a lot, but just a little. Drawing in a breath of the warm evening air, he made his way down the sidewalk when he heard a frightened scream not far away.

"Is he coming?" Chloe whispered, staring up at Clark and tugging on her purse before taking a deep breath and screaming "help!" as loudly as she could.

Clark peered down the block. "There's several people around. I don't know." He tugged gently on her purse, as well. "Give it to me!" he ordered.

"Hey!" Oliver jogged toward them, his eyes narrowed.

Chloe's heart started beating fast when she heard someone else's voice and footsteps coming toward him, she couldn't turn to check if it was him or not, but she hoped it was, "No! Let go! Please!" She begged.

"He's coming. Good luck," Clark whispered before letting go of her purse and taking off down the sidewalk.

"Hey! Stop!" Oliver ordered.

She smiled brightly as she hugged her purse to herself and watched Clark go, but she kept her back to Oliver. He was there. He was actually there.

"Are you all right?" he asked, reaching out and resting a hand on her shoulder, looking off in the direction that Clark had gone.

With a deep breath, she nodded and slowly turned to face him, pretending she didn't know who he was, "yeah," she whispered, "thank you, I couldn't hold on much lo--" and then she stopped, looking up at him and doing her best to widen her eyes, "Oliver?"

He turned his head when she said his name, his eyes widening a little. "Chloe?"

"I--" she pursed her lips together, "thank you."

Oliver stared at her for a moment, then looked down the street, and back at her again.

Chloe blinked a couple of times and swallowed, glancing over her shoulder then back at him, "do you think he's coming back?" She asked, her heart picking up again, she hoped he wouldn't see right through it.

"No, I think he's probably..." His voice trailed off and his eyes narrowed at her.

She held her breath and watched him closely, her eyes widening for real this time as she saw the look on his face, "shouldn't we get out of here just in case?"

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked, shaking his head and stepping closer to her. "Do you know how dangerous it can be in this city after dark?"

Chloe sighed deeply and nodded, looking away and trying not to make it obvious that she was relaxing, "I lost track of time, I went to the library and I was on my way back to the dorms," she told him quietly, she had mapquested directions to make sure her story would make sense.

Oliver stared at her, then exhaled. "Do you have money?"

Blinking a couple of times at the odd question, she nodded, pursing her lips together and watching him uncertain, "some."

"How much is some?" he questioned, giving her a look.

"Twenty, thirty bucks?" She said, frowning in confusion at him.

"Then do me a favor and next time take a cab home," he told her.

She let out a breath and nodded a little, looking down, "yeah, I will."

Oliver nodded as well, stepping off the sidewalk and flagging down a taxi. "This one's on me."

Chloe looked at the cab and shook her head, "I have the money," she told him, stepping forward, "you've done enough for me tonight."

He turned his head to look at her. "Just let me do this." His voice was quiet.

She considered him for a moment then nodded slightly.

He relaxed at that, meeting her eyes for a brief moment and pulling open the back door of the cab for her.

Chloe stepped toward the door but paused, facing him, "stay safe out there."

"I'm just going home." He stared at her.

"All it takes is to be outside," she told him quietly, keeping her eyes on his.

"Hey, are we goin' somewhere, or what?" the cab driver complained, peering out the window at them.

Oliver drew in a breath and let it out slowly, reaching for his wallet and pulling out a twenty dollar bill. He finally broke their gaze and leaned in the window, handing the driver the money. "Wherever she's going."

Chloe got in but looked at Oliver after rolling down the window, "thank you for helping me when I needed it," she told him, holding his gaze for a moment longer as the driver pulled away from the curb.

He stared after the taxi, remaining where he stood for a long time.

She turned around and watched him for as long as she could through the back window, once he was out of view, she let out her breath and smiled softly, relaxing against her seat. She knew he wouldn't let her down, but it was good to be sure of it.

* * *

Chloe sighed softly and picked up her phone, checking it one more time. She had been checking it obsessively for the past couple of days, since Oliver had 'saved' her from her supposed mugger. The look on his face as she left him on the sidewalk had made her believe she would be getting a call from him soon, at the very least so he could demand some answers but so far, it hadn't happened.

She was sitting at a cafe near campus with her laptop, half doing research for one of the two summer classes she was taking, but mostly just sipping on her iced coffee and watching the beach. It was a Saturday afternoon after all and she'd much rather be doing something more interesting but considering the one person she kinda knew in the city was determined to avoid her, she was stuck with homework.

"So here's what I'm dying to know." He sat down across from her without warning, his expression completely neutral. "Are you trying to make me into your next big story? Get a jump start on your journalism career?"

Chloe stilled, blinking and looking up at him, her eyes widening when she realized _who_ it was, "Oliver," she said, closing her mouth and swallowing before shaking her head, "I'm not looking for a story." She told him, closing her laptop a second later.

He stared at her for a long moment, searching her eyes, then sitting back in the seat, relaxing a little. "No?" His voice was quieter this time, less suspicious.

"No," she took a deep breath, "do you really think I would have given you my real name if I was trying to warm up to you to turn you into a byliner?"

Oliver nodded slightly, resting his hands on the table. "I needed to make sure," he said, watching her.

She nodded a little and tried for a smile, "being who you are, I don't blame you."

"I've been in the papers non-stop since I came back," he admitted. "And on the news. And in magazines."

"I know," Chloe said quietly, "I've been reading."

"And after all of that, you still think I can be some kind of...." He shook his head a little, leaning forward and dropping his voice. "Vigilante?"

"I think that makes it perfect," she told him, leaning forward a little too and searching his face, "who is going to believe Oliver Queen: playboy extraordinaire would actually care to help people like that? You'd have the most well protected secret identity out there."

Oliver stared at her for a long moment. "How much thought have you given this, exactly?"

"A lot," she smirked faintly, "can't you tell? I have been massively bored in the past couple weeks with no contact from you at all."

He winced involuntarily at that. "See, that's the thing, Chloe. I'm not exactly the most dependable person on the planet."

"It's a lot to take in, Oliver," Chloe told him then pursed her lips together a little, "and the thing about people like vigilantes is that you may not always be there when I want you to be, but you have a way of always showing up unexpectedly when I need you, just like you did the other night."

"And like the Red and Blue Blur does." He gazed at her intently.

She stared at him for a moment. She had told him she knew a vigilante and he knew she was from Metropolis, connecting the dots wasn't exactly rocket science, so she nodded.

He was silent for a few seconds, then glanced around. "Why don't we go someplace more private?" he suggested.

Chloe nodded a little and without thinking twice, slid her laptop and cellphone in her purse, her heartbeat picking up once more like it seemed to every time he was around, "my dorm is just a block away if that's okay with you."

Oliver raised his eyebrows at that. "All right, but just so we're clear--I have no plans to sleep with you." He smirked at her, his voice a little lighter.

She smirked at that and raised her eyebrows as she stood up, her chest tight but she wasn't going to let it show, "I guess I will keep the lingerie hidden, then."

His eyes widened just a little. "Well, you know, it's always _negotiable_..."

Blinking, she stared at him for a moment, "oh, I'll keep that in mind then," she told him, trying to keep the light conversation going but once more, her mouth was painfully dry.

"Lead the way, Professor." He smiled just a little.

She shifted her bag over her shoulder and nodded a little, "like I said, it's not far."

Oliver drew in a breath and let it out slowly, reaching down and picking up the cup of coffee she'd been drinking. "Don't forget this."

"Oh," Chloe said, reaching for the coffee and holding her breath as her fingers brushed against his hand, the same spark of electricity shooting through her instantly, like it had when he first shook her hand, "thank you, can't function without it."

He felt it too, his eyes immediately lifting to lock with hers as he held his breath, as well.

Her stomach tightened as she held his gaze, her head spinning a little as she looked him in the eye and held her breath, she had never felt anything like this before.

"We should go," he murmured, searching her eyes.

"Yes," Chloe agreed quietly, taking her coffee and taking a long sip through the straw as she turned away from him and started toward the dorms.

Oliver stared after her for a moment, feeling as shell-shocked as he had the first day he met her. Then he quickly followed.


	5. Chapter 5

  


The rest of the walk had been mostly silent, make that completely silent. Chloe knew that whatever she had felt, Oliver had felt it too. But she wasn't going to focus on that, not yet anyway. He might kind of trust her now, but she knew there was still a long way to go and now that he was _there_ , she had to focus on getting him to become the Green Arrow and not on anything else.

She unlocked her door and pushed it open then stilled. Her room looked like a war-zone. She hadn't even through about that when she invited him over and now she was mortified.

"Hm, sorry about the mess." She said, walking in and placing her bag and coffee over her desk then pulling the comforter over her bed so it at least looked like it had been made, "I wasn't really expecting anyone over." She was just glad she had done her laundry out of boredom and all of her clothes were sitting in a basket in the corner of the room so most of the mess were just papers, books and general research material, but still. It was awkward and embarrassing.

"It's all right," he told her, glancing around, his gaze immediately being drawn to the far wall, where there were articles and pictures tacked up all over the place. He moved toward it curiously, wanting to get a better look.

Chloe followed his gaze and pursed her lips together, keeping an eye on him even as she went around the room trying to organize it. She wasn't surprised he had been instantly pulled to the Wall of Weird, most people were, but it wasn't the same as the one she had back at the Torch, since she found out about Clark, it had been slowly morphing from the meteor infected to the mysterious appearances of supposed vigilantes, it had especially been turning into that since she moved to Star City. 

Oliver studied the front page picture of the Daily Bugle that showed a close up of Spider-Man clinging to the side of a building after apparently averting a robbery of some kind. He shifted his gaze to an article about The Batman in Gotham, and then to one on the Red-Blue Blur from Metropolis. The wall was covered in articles about all of them, plus others he'd never heard of before. He pursed his lips, then turned to look at her over his shoulder.

She arched an eyebrow at him and smiled a little, "I told you I had some articles to back me up."

He raised his eyebrows at that, nodding a little and looking back at the wall. "Chloe, how long have you been doing this?"

"Pinning up articles to the wall? Since I was about nine," she told him, she knew it wasn't what he was asking, but she wanted _him_ to be more specific.

"No, doing this whole..." He motioned to the wall. "Super-hero thing."

"Well, officially?" She said, walking closer to the wall, "for about a year."

He nodded a little, staring at the articles and pictures. "So you're friends with this Red-Blue Blur, then?" 

"Something like that," she told him, pursing her lips together as she watched him as he read the articles.

"So I have to ask--and I really mean no offense by this--" he began, his voice sincere. "--why aren't you still in Kansas, helping him?"

"I'm still helping him," she told him then shrugged a little, "but he already knows what he's doing, he doesn't really need me anymore."

Oliver turned to look at her, his hands in his pockets. "All right, fair enough. Why _me_?"

"Why _not_?" She said, looking up at him, "like I said, I know you have the archery thing going for you, you're obviously a good fighter if you can take three guys down while drunk, on your own, and you have have the capital to fund whatever you may need to make this possible."

"I wasn't, actually," he said without thinking.

"You weren't what?" She asked, cocking her head.

He paused. "Drunk. I'd been drinking, but I wasn't drunk."

"Oh," she smiled a little at that, "well, you still have good reflexes."

"I suppose," he murmured.

Chloe took a deep breath and looked at him, "I can't train you or anything," she admitted, "but I've been working on a GPS system that would allow me to help you get to where you need to be." She had gotten the idea from the other Oliver and the fact that his Chloe seemed to be in his ear all the time. 

He raised his eyebrows at that. "So you're offering to be what? My eyes in the sky?" He cocked his head to the side.

She smiled a little and nodded, "something like that."

He was silent for a moment, watching her. "How old are you?" 

Frowning a little, she arched her eyebrows, "twenty," she told him.

Oliver nodded a little, drawing in a breath and letting it out slowly. "May I sit down?"

"Yeah, of course," Chloe said quietly, motioning to her bed as her computer chair had files stacked up on it, "do you want something to drink? I have water and coke."

He considered, then nodded. "Water would be great. Thanks." His voice was quiet and he sat down on the edge of her bed, watching her.

Nodding, she reached into the mini-fridge and pulled out a bottle of water, then picked up her coffee and took the bottle to him, "here you go."

Oliver held his breath as their fingers brushed when he took the bottle from her.

Chloe swallowed and pulled her hand back before sitting down on the very edge of the bed, "I'm sure you have more questions."

"This all seems like it could be pretty dangerous." He gazed at her.

"Yeah," she agreed quietly, "if you do agree to do this, you will need to feel physically and mentally prepared before you venture yourself out there and I can make sure the Blur is around to back you up if you need, at least at first."

"I meant for you." He rested his elbows on his knees.

"Oh," she frowned a little and shook her head, "I'm not going out there or anything. I just do research and help you guys as much as I can."

He gazed at her, nodding slightly. "I just don't want you to end up getting hurt because of something I do." He looked down. "I screw up a lot." 

"You need to have a little more faith in yourself, Oliver," she said quietly, watching him.

He looked up at her. "Why do you have faith in me?" He shook his head a little. "You barely know me."

"I'll tell you eventually," she promised quietly, "but I don't think you're ready to hear it yet."

Oliver blinked, then raised his eyebrows. "You know, not a lot of people would have the guts to say that to me."

Chloe smirked a little and shrugged, "I'm not on your payroll, besides, after all of this, you probably already think I'm crazy anyway."

"I don't, actually." He gazed at her. "At least not for all this." He motioned toward the Wall of Weird.

"Oh?" She raised her eyebrows a little then smiled, "I guess that just proves my point that you're different, most people would."

Oliver rubbed a hand over his face and let out a breath, rising to his feet and moving back over to the wall to study it. "You really think I'm capable of that?" He pointed to a picture of Spiderman rescuing a baby from a burning building.

"Maybe not _exactly_ like that," she told him, getting up too, "you will need some kind of grappling hook arrow," she said, smirking a little, "but yes, I know you can do something like that."

He turned to look at her, wondering about the knowing smirk on her face. "I wouldn't even know where to start."

"Well," Chloe said, pursing her lips together and walking over to her desk, pulling out a big binder, "you need to make sure your archery skills are really good since that will be the biggest part of the whole thing," she told him, turning to look at him, "then we can study what everyone else is doing and see how we can adapt that to you. Do you have any engineers on your team?"

"My team?" Oliver's eyebrows furrowed and he shook his head a little.

"You know, in your company, someone you can trust?"

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, not quite looking at her. "Not exactly, no." He was quiet for a moment. "I don't have control of the company at this point." 

"But it's yours," Chloe said, frowning.

"In name, yes," he said quietly. "They also thought I was dead for the last two years. It's been more than a little difficult. Especially since I never ran it before."

Chloe frowned and shook her head, "I'm sure there is plenty of legal action you can take to have control over it again."

Oliver was quiet for a moment. "The head of the board...Jack Brown. He doesn't seem to think that my father would _want_ me to have control of it." 

"He's probably just a greedy little man, Oliver, the company is _yours_ by right, by blood," she told him, frowning, "he can say whatever he wants about what he thinks your dad would want but the truth is, no one can know for sure."

He considered that. "Maybe," he murmured.

Chloe shrugged a little, "I'm no lawyer, but I'm pretty good at research. If you want me to, I can look up cases similar to yours. I think Bruce Wayne went through it with his company not too long ago."

Oliver cocked his head to the side. "Yeah, I should give him a call. It's been a long time." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"You know him?" Chloe frowned curiously.

"We went to Excelsior together," he told her, nodding a little.

"Oh," Chloe nodded a little and smiled, "my research didn't go that far back."

"Maybe I'll fill you in on those days sometime." He smiled faintly.

"Sounds fascinating," she told him, smiling back at him, "and I'm sure he can help you more than I can in that front."

"Maybe." He held her gaze, pausing. "You know...you have really pretty eyes." 

She stilled completely, her eyes widening a little as she stared at him, getting caught completely off guard by the compliment, "oh. Thank you."

Oliver smiled faintly. "You're welcome," he said quietly.

Chloe blinked and shifted the heavy binder she was still holding, "I- anyway, I put this together for you, it's a lot of articles talking about what the others are doing and some ideas on what you might need."

He drew in a breath and sat down beside her, looking at the binder for a moment. "You knew I'd give in." It wasn't a question.

Biting back a smile, she slid the binder to him gently, "I was cautiously optimistic?"

Oliver raised an eyebrow at her as he took the binder. "Obviously," he said with faint amusement.

She shifted on the bed so she was facing him, the binder between them, "is green your favorite color?" Chloe asked quietly.

He met her eyes. "I never really thought that much about it, but I guess it is."

Chloe pursed her lips together and nodded a little, "I'm really bad at drawing, but there is a costume idea in there too."

He blinked, looking at her with faint surprise before flipping open the binder and beginning to look through it.

She held her breath and watched him closely as he went through the binder, the dark circles under his eyes were definitely better but he still didn't look anywhere as... light like the other Oliver had, it was like he felt guilty over something or like he had something weighing him down. She had no idea what it was, there was a lot about him that she didn't know about him still, but she found herself wanting to find out every detail she could, so she would know him as well as the other Oliver seemed to know her.

Oliver studied the sketch as he came across it, raising his eyebrows at the detail involved. She'd even colored it in, in green. "Wow," he murmured.

Chloe pursed her lips together, "like I said, I'm not very good at the drawing thing, but maybe that will give you some ideas?" She told him quietly, blushing. She had gone back and re-done that drawing more times than she could count as she remembered details from the other Oliver's uniform.

"I like it," he told her, looking up and pausing as he realized she was blushing. He offered her a small smile.

She smiled softly at that and nodded, shifting, "this is just to give you ideas of where to go."

He held her gaze for a moment, searching her eyes. "Thank you." 

She held her breath and nodded a little, "you're welcome," she told him quietly, "like I said, I'm here to help you."

He nodded slightly. "I believe that," he murmured.

Her chest tightened a little and Chloe nodded, searching his eyes, "thank you," she whispered.

Oliver held his breath as she gazed at him. "What do we do first?" 

The answered that flashed thought her brain instantly wasn't appropriate, so she shifted a little on the bed and took a deep breath, "well, I'm working on the GPS system, so you can start to work on whatever you think your body needs and we need to figure out how to get you your gadgets and costume."

"How did your friend get his costume? Or...uh, hers?" He scratched his head.

"He doesn't really have one," Chloe admitted, "he just wears red and blue, but you need the added protection," she told him, frowning a little as she tried to think.

He was silent for a long moment. "I could always just make my own." 

"You can sew?" She asked, eyes widening.

He chuckled involuntarily at the look on her face. "Yeah. Excelsior was nothing if not a lesson in self-sufficiency." He paused. "And then there's that whole 'lived on an island' alone for two years."

Chloe couldn't help but smile when he chuckled, her eyes bright as she watched him and nodded, "no one can say you're not a man of many talents."

He smiled back at her. "And apparently I've met my match." 

Her heart skipped a beat and she shook her head, embarrassed, "I can order and buy everything you need," she told him, "that way no one will connect your name to any of it."

"I appreciate that," he told her sincerely. "But make sure you do it under some kind of alias for extra precaution."

She considered that for a moment then nodded, "I can do that."

"And I'll pay for all of it," he added.

Chloe grinned a little at that and nodded, "good, because I doubt I could afford it."

He grinned back at her. "We're really going to do this?"

She sat up and nodded a little, watching him closely, "if you're up for it." She said, her entire face bright, her heart beating fast.

The look on her face nearly took his breath away. "Let's get to work."


	6. Chapter 6

  


Oliver was in the middle of his work-out when he heard the buzzer at his door. Very, very few people had the codes to get to his personal penthouse suite, and he grinned at the realization that it was most likely Chloe Sullivan. Since they'd embarked on this bizarre but oddly comfortable partnership a couple weeks before, they'd been talking daily, and most of those days they saw each other at least once. He set down the weight that he was lifting and grabbed a towel, drying off his face as he made his way to the door and pulled it open. 

"Hi-" Chloe stilled when she saw him. Shirtless, glistering with sweat and with a bright grin on his face. Her mouth dropped open as she stared at him, speechless.

He reached out and took the bags she was carrying. "Looks like some of the stuff came in. I could've come to you," he told her, carrying them inside and then moving back to the door, grabbing the large box from the floor.

She rubbed her now free hands over her face and hair and nodded, swallowing hard before following him inside, "I, yeah. I figured we'd have more space here."

"You want something to drink?" he offered, shutting the door and locking it. "I'm brewing coffee." He'd found out very quickly it was pretty much all she drank.

"I never say no to coffee," she told him, her eyes on his perfect looking back as soon as he turned away from her.

"I didn't think so, since you hadn't yet," he teased, heading into the kitchen. He opened his fridge. "I bought some of that flavored stuff, too. Come look and pick something out."

Chloe swallowed hard, she was hoping that would give her some time to pull herself together, possibly sneak into his bathroom for a cold shower, but she followed him reluctantly and as soon as she entered the kitchen, she stilled once again when she looked inside the open fridge.

On the top shelf were about twenty bottles of her favorite brand of creamer, in every flavor possible, some she didn't even recognize, and then there was the smell of coffee and the fact that he was still standing there, _shirtless_ and smiling _at_ her, looking proud of himself.

All she could think was that she was dreaming and suddenly her thoughts started going in the NC-17 direction and all she could picture was combining the creamers and Oliver's perfect bare chest and all coherence left her completely.

"Chloe? Are you all right?" His smile slipped a little as she stared into the fridge with a dazed expression on her face.

She blinked and looked away from him, focusing on the contents of the fridge, her face burning hot, "yeah-" she cleared her throat, "yeah, I'm good, it's a lot to choose from. You didn't have to get so many of them."

"It was the least I could do," he said quietly. "Plus, as much time as you're spending here, you'll use it." He shrugged.

Chloe stuck her face in the fridge and started reading the labels, barely managing to focus as she tried to pull herself together, "do you not drink them at all?"

"I quit cold turkey a couple years ago." His lips twitched.

"Oh, okay," she murmured, having absolutely no idea what he just said.

Oliver frowned a little and without thinking about it, he reached out and gently rested a hand on her back. "Are you sure you're okay?"

She jumped a little and turned to face him, her eyes a little darker than usual still, "yeah, I'm fine," she tried for a smile, "tired, the coffee will help."

He paused, gazing at her intently. "All right. I'll pour some." He watched her a moment longer, then crossed the kitchen to the coffee pot, pouring a large mug full of the stuff, but leaving enough room that it wouldn't overflow when she added cream and sugar.

Chloe turned back around and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly and pulling out a random bottle from the collection and looking down at it, vanilla toffee caramel, with a slight shrug she nodded, "this sounds good," she murmured, mostly to herself.

He reached out, handing her the mug of coffee and offering her a smile. "Let me go grab a shower and I'll meet you back out here in a bit." 

Nodding, she took the mug and kept her eyes on him, "thank you," she said, hopefully the shower would mean he would come back out with more clothes. She had no idea what was going on with her, but she suddenly felt like a thirteen year old boy who had just seen boobs for the first time.

"No problem," he told her, heading out of the kitchen and disappearing down the hall.

She sighed deeply and placed everything she was holding on the counter then rubbed her hands over her face and started ;looking in the cabinets for a tall glass, she needed something iced right now, very cold.

* * *

Forty-five minutes later they were sitting in his living room, going through all of the packages that she'd brought over. He raised his eyebrows as he pulled out a couple of small devices that looked like earphones. "But I already _have_ an iPod, Chloe."

Chloe held her breath and reached out, taking it from him a second later, "I was looking for these!" She said, excited, "these aren't iPods," she grinned, "they are our communicators, the microphones in them are supposed to be amazing, so you can be whispering and I should still be able to hear it like you're talking to me at a normal tone."

He raised his eyebrows a little. "Oh." He was starting to think that this was like joining the CIA. With all the tech-gear she'd ordered, he already felt like he was halfway on his way to being a spy. Then again, she'd been doing this awhile, and clearly knew more about what was going on than he did, which was why he'd just given her a large sum of cash and allowed her to purchase whatever she thought they'd need.

She studied the earpiece for a moment and nodded, "this should have the GPS chip installed in them so I just have to connect it with the program I have and I should be able to track you down and talk to you no matter where you are."

Oliver examined it, as well, leaning in closer to get a better look. "It's tiny." 

"Exactly," she told him, smiling at him, "should fit right into your ear and be pretty much invisible. Try it on."

Shrugging a little, he slid the little device into his ear as instructed and turned his head so she could look at him better. "Can you see it?"

Chloe shook her head a little as she cocked her head, "not from this angle, turn your head," she told him, watching him closely.

He turned his head the way she instructed.

She nodded a little and pursed her lips, "I can see it if I'm looking right into your ear, but I'm looking for it, so I don't think that really counts."

"Cool." He grinned at her.

"This is awesome," she said excitedly, "I wish I had thought of bringing my laptop so I could set them up so we could test them."

Oliver's smile brightened a bit more at her enthusiasm. "Well, we could go get it," he suggested.

"Do you really want to do that? I could set them up tonight and bring them by tomorrow morning since it's Saturday." She suggested, raising her eyebrows at him.

"Well, I don't mind. I mean, unless you've got other plans." He held his breath.

Chloe grinned softly and shook her head, "considering I know exactly one person in this city, I think my schedule is pretty open."

He grinned back, relaxing once more. "Okay. I just don't want to monopolize all your time if you have school stuff to be doing."

"I'm ahead in both my classes," she admitted then smiled at him as she stood up, "should we grab something to eat while we're out? This might take a while."

"Sure." He rose to his feet, as well, offering her his arm. "What sounds good?"

Chloe shrugged a little, "I don't know much around here, what do you like?" Sure, she had explored, but she didn't know if he did places where you could order by a number or spend less than ten bucks on your entire meal.

"After living on an island for two years? I learned not to be picky," he told her, heading for the door.

"Well, still you have got to have preferences," she pointed out.

He smiled. "I love Italian. And Mexican."

"I love both too," she told him, "know any Italian places? I haven't found one yet."

Oliver's eyes lit up. "I know several. There's one a few blocks from your dorm, actually."

"That works, it will be on our way then." She said, grinning at him unable to stop herself from doing so.

He grinned back at her. "And then you'll know where one is. I'll point out the others, too, though."

"Sounds good," she told him, watching him as they walked arm in arm toward the elevator, "and if we're ever in Metropolis, I can show you my favorite."

"What is your favorite?" he asked, glancing at her sideways.

"It's called Tony's, original, I know," she grinned a little, "but it's a real Italian family that owns it and it's been there ever since I can remember."

Oliver smiled at that, stepping into the elevator with her and pressing the button for the first floor. "Have you ever been to Italy?"

Chloe raised her eyebrows at that and shook her head, "I've never been out of the country," she admitted.

"Oh." He glanced at her and pulled her a little closer to him. "Well, we'll have to remedy that."

She laughed softly at that and raised her eyebrows, "sure, let's just take your private jet and go see the world."

"People all over the world need help, right?" He gazed at her.

Chloe blinked a little at that and raised her eyebrows, "oh, you weren't joking?"

Oliver smiled a bit. "No, I wasn't."

"But you don't actually _own_ a private jet, right?" Chloe asked, frowning.

He raised his eyebrows, falling silent as he glanced at her.

"You _do_?" She blinked, raising her eyebrows more as the elevator got to the bottom floor.

He nodded a little. "Yeah. I do."

"Wow..." she said, shaking her head a little, "you really do lead a different life, don't you?"

"And here you are nudging me toward living an even _more_ different life," he teased.

"Well," she smirked softly, "this is different for _you_ , your life is different for _me_ , I think it's a fair exchange."

He chuckled softly. "Point. So I guess we'll both have some adjusting to do then."

"Yeah," she agreed quietly, watching him and smiling softly, "that sounds right."

Oliver smiled back at her without hesitation. "Then one day soon, you and I will have authentic Italian food together."

Her heart skipped a beat and she bit down on her bottom lip, nodding a little as she smiled at him.

He grinned at her, leading her out of his building and toward his car.

"Are you driving?" Chloe asked a moment later, the thought of being in Italy with Oliver sounded like most everything else when it came to him; too good to be true, but she wasn't going to hold her breath, she didn't want to get her hopes up.

"Unless you want to." He pulled out the keys to his car and held them out, raising his eyebrows.

"You want me to drive your car?" She asked, arching her eyebrows.

"I don't mind." He shrugged a little, offering her the keys.

Chloe held her breath and nodded, taking his keys and holding his gaze.

Oliver smiled at her. "You'll be fine," he promised, winking at her, and then heading to the passenger side.

She sighed softly and nodded a little, watching him walk away before making her way to the driver's side. She really needed to stop staring at him like that before she scared him away and then she wouldn't have the hero she was supposed to help or anything else.

* * *

He hadn't spent much time at her dorm in the short time that they'd known one another, because frankly he'd been worried about what it would do to her reputation to be seen with him at her school. But she didn't seem to mind it as they made their way up the stairs toward her room. "Maybe if I run up and down all the stairs in your dorm a few times a day, I'll get in better shape faster," he joked.

Chloe shook her head and grinned a little, "after that meal, I think we both need to." She said quietly, taking a deep breath as they got to the top floor of her building.

He grinned back at her. "Or maybe I can just buy the dorm and install an elevator."

She laughed softly and shook her head, placing her hand on her extremely full stomach, "I plan on moving out of here soon enough, so I don't think it would be a smart investment."

He paused at that. "Oh?"

"I signed a three month lease for the dorm," she told him, "as soon as I can get a job, I plan on finding a place where I can have my own bathroom."

Oliver glanced at her sideways, considering that, and looking thoughtful.

Chloe reached inside her purse and pulled out her keys as she walked down the hall, "I'll be fast, I just need to grab it and we can go."

"Okay." He followed her, still lost in thought.

"Oh my God, is that...?" someone whispered loudly.

She paused and glanced over her shoulder, watching as two girls stared blatantly at Oliver and whispered to each other. Her eyes narrowed instantly at them and without giving it a second thought, she took Oliver's hand, "c'mon." She said even as she ignored the electricity that ran through her at the touch, as it usually did when she touched him.

Oliver slid his fingers through hers without thinking about it, not looking twice at the other girls.

Chloe didn't even realize that she was holding on to his hand tightly, a smirk appearing on her lips as the girls' faces turned into shock. Without blinking, she turned to her dorm and unlocked it, pulling him inside with her.

"Is this where you push me on your bed and have your way with me?" he teased, grinning at her.

She paused and blinked, smirking a little and looking at him, "well that's what I want _them_ to think."

He cocked his head at that. "You do?"

"Well, they seemed to want some gossip," Chloe said awkwardly then busied herself with gathering her laptop.

"And you want them to gossip about you?" His eyebrows furrowed a little.

"They probably don't even know my name," she told him, "but they are going to talk anyway, might as well let them think I'm awesome, right?"

Oliver blinked. "But you are awesome."

Chloe paused at that and raised her eyebrows, "you know what I mean," she said, not wanting to think anything of his compliment.

"Not really, I don't." He rubbed the back of his neck.

"I wasn't exactly popular in high school, I don't mind someone talking about me for a change." She told him, her expression neutral as she pulled her laptop bag over her shoulder, "are you ready to go?"

"Yeah." He nodded a little, stepping into the hallway once more.

She took a deep breath and shifted her bag over her shoulder before following him outside again, not surprised that the group had multiplied.

Oliver paused, then turned to face her, reaching out and pulling her close to him. Then he dipped his head and captured her mouth in a searing kiss.

Chloe stilled completely, her eyes opening wide, her body suddenly felt like it was frozen in place and the usual energy that she felt every time their skins touched had been multiplied by a thousand, it was so strong it was making her knees weak, but it didn't matter because she couldn't feel her legs anymore.

His heart was beating heavily in his chest as he threaded one hand into her hair, not pulling away from her even as his other arm slid around her.

She couldn't hear the gasps and whispers they had gotten from the group, she couldn't process anything at the moment, but her body shifted closer to his as she raised both hands to his arms, leaning her head back against his hand for a better angle. His mouth tasted like the tiramissu they had shared for dessert and like the espresso she had insisted he tried, his mouth fit over hers perfectly and she had _never_ been kissed like this before.

After a long moment, he slowly pulled away from her, his eyes darker than usual, and his expression dazed. He held his breath, gazing at her intently.

Even as she tried to take a deep breath, it didn't feel like her lungs were getting any air at all, her own eyes were dark and she wanted nothing more than to grab him and pull him back into her bedroom, but a sudden wave of whistling and clapping pulled her away from those thoughts instantly and as she turned her head to see about seven people standing there, a couple of them with their cellphones, her face fell.

Chloe blinked a little, her chest suddenly incredibly tight and she just wanted to run into her room on her own this time. He had kissed her to prove a point, to give them something to talk about like she said she wanted, not because he _wanted_ to kiss her. The best, most intense kiss of her life had been just pretend.


	7. Chapter 7

  
  


She had no idea how they had gotten in the car again, she had felt his hand on hers and she vaguely remembered walking, but she was lost in thought the entire time. It wasn't until the car started moving that she blinked a couple of times and glanced at him. She should let him drive her back and then she should grab the communicators, get in her car, and drive back. Being around him was only going to make this whole thing worse.

She had to regroup and forget all about how kissing him felt and how his mouth had tasted and how it felt to be in his arms because it wasn't real and if she let herself fall into this, it was going to be so much worse than it had ever been with Clark and she had almost lost Clark's friendship countless times because of her feelings for him, she couldn't risk it with Oliver, not when they were so close to getting him where he should be.

He glanced at her sideways as he drove them back toward his penthouse. "Are you okay?" His voice was uncertain.

"Yeah," she breathed, pulling on the seatbelt, "you didn't have to do that."

Oliver was silent for a moment. "I wanted to," he said quietly.

Her heart stopped for a full moment, "well I'm sure it will be all over campus, so the plan to make me popular might have worked."

He glanced at her again, chewing on the inside of his cheek. "Yeah," he murmured, his chest tight.

Chloe let out a breath and she looked out the window on her side of the car, suddenly wishing she was driving so she could at least be keeping herself busy with something, "I'll probably just grab the earpieces and go back home."

His eyebrows furrowed at that. "What? Why?" There was confusion in his voice.

She didn't even realize she was turning and twisting her fingers against the strap of her purse and shrugged, "it's late, I'll just be programming the chips anyway, it's not very exciting."

Oliver pulled the car off to the side of the road and shifting it into park, shaking his head a little as he turned to face her in the seat.

Her eyes widened a little and her heart started beating faster when she realized he was parking, shaking her head a little, she glanced at him, "what are you doing?"

"Pulling over so we can talk," he said quietly, gazing at her intently.

"Talk about what?" She asked, swallowing hard, her jaw a little tight as she kept her eyes on the dashboard.

He held his breath for a moment. "Should I not have kissed you?"

Chloe's stomach turned at that and she took a deep breath then looked down at her lap, "it doesn't matter," she said quietly then held her head up high but still didn't look at him, "you were proving a point, I get it."

Oliver stared at her for a long moment, then looked out the windshield. "That was just the excuse."

Her jaw clenched and holding her breath, she turned to look at him slowly.

"I've wanted to kiss you since the day we met," he said very softly.

She stared at him for a long moment, her chest tight again, her eyes widening slowly in shock, her heart pounding and she had given up on trying to breathe, "you have?" She whispered.

He turned his head to look at her. "You haven't felt it?" he asked quietly, searching her eyes.

Pursing her lips together, she nodded slowly, holding his gaze this time, "I didn't know if it was just me."

"It's not," he murmured, reaching out and tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

Holding her breath, she searched his eyes, "I don't want to mess anything up."

Oliver drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "Me either." His voice was quiet, and he swallowed hard.

"What we're doing," she whispered, "me helping you, it had to be priority."

"I know." He shut his eyes. "I know it does. I just..."

"What?" She asked before she could stop herself.

"I really like you," he said softly, opening his eyes once more and gazing at her. "A lot. And I feel like..." He hesitated a moment. "Like maybe we have a shot at something here. Something amazing."

Her eyes felt warmer at his words and as she held his gaze, she could have sworn she saw something similar to what she had seen in the other Oliver's eyes. It wasn't nearly as bright or as... fulfilled, but it was there. A hint was more than she had ever seen before.

Holding her breath she shifted a little on her seat, turning to face him more. She lifted her hand to cup his cheek and a second later, leaned in and kissed him very softly on the lips.

Oliver kissed her back without hesitation, gently sliding a hand up to cup the back of her head.

Her heart was once again beating fast against her chest and the feeling of his lips on her was overwhelming, this time for entirely different reasons. It was a much slower, softer kiss, but it was still just as intense as the first.

After a couple of long moments, he finally broke the kiss so that he could catch his breath. "Wow," he murmured, dazed again.

Chloe took a deep breath too, dropping her hand from his face to his shoulder, "I know," she whispered.

He searched her eyes, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the intensity of the kiss.

"I've never felt anything like this before," she admitted quietly, not breaking eye contact. She didn't think she would be able to if she wanted.

"Me either," he whispered, brushing his thumb over her cheek.

She leaned into his touch a little and pursed her lips together, suddenly feeling guilty, "we should go back," she told him quietly, "there is a lot you should know."

His eyebrows furrowed at that. "What do you mean?"

"Well," she said quietly, "all the answers I didn't give you before," she told him, "I feel like I should tell you."

He gazed at her for a moment. "Okay." He kissed her cheek lightly, then reluctantly pulled away from her and settled back into the driver's seat, starting the car once more.

Chloe took a deep breath and settled against her seat, feeling a little calmer now, but still nervous since she was going to have to tell him the truth, "how much of those articles have you read so far?" She asked quietly, stopping herself from reaching for his hand.

"All of them." He glanced at her sideways, raising his eyebrows a little as he drove toward his building. Some of them twice, in fact, he added silently.

She smiled a little at that and nodded, "did some of those things sound... kind of impossible to you? Like a normal person could never realistically do that?"

"Most of those things sounded impossible," he admitted. "This Red-Blue Blur friend...he can really move that fast?"

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded a little, she had already told Clark that eventually she was going to tell Oliver he had powers, even if she wasn't going to share his secret identity, "yeah, he can move at the speed of light, and I don't think he's the only one with powers."

"Not unless it's suddenly normal to single-handedly stop a train wreck," he murmured, thinking of one of the articles he'd read on Spider-Man.

She smiled a little at him and nodded, brushing her hair behind her ear as she watched him closely, "so you don't think I'm crazy for telling you mutants are real?"

"Is that what they call themselves?" His eyebrows furrowed a little. "Mutants?"

"No, not really," Chloe said quietly, "I'm not sure what the PC term is, but we had a lot of people with powers around Smallville because of a meteor rock infection and I think mutant is a better term to meteor freak." She told him quietly.

He considered that for a moment, nodding a little. "Makes sense," he said.

With a deep breath, she nodded a little, "that will make things easier."

"And no, I don't think you're crazy." He glanced at her once more.

Chloe looked over at him and nodded a little, smiling softly, "thank you."

He smiled a bit, too, nodding and focusing on the road ahead, wondering what it was she was going to tell him that she hadn't before.

* * *

They got back to his penthouse a few minutes later and she was feeling a lot more confident about telling him the truth. With a deep breath, she set her laptop and purse down on the coffee table then turned to face him, "should we sit down?"

He raised his eyebrows at that. "It's a sit-down kind of conversation?"

"Well, you have been taking everything really well so far, but this one is weird, even for me."

Now he was worried. After all, she was friends with a super-hero who had honest-to-God actual super powers. He moved over and sat down on the sofa. "Is this going to require alcohol of some kind?"

Chloe raised her eyebrows and grinned softly, "it might."

He glanced at the wet bar across the room. "I guess we'll wait and see." He patted the cushion beside him.

She smiled at him and sat down next to him, "there is an actual reason why I came after _you_ ," she admitted.

"Yeah, I figured," he told her, watching her curiously. Truthfully, he'd been trying to figure out why for weeks.

With a deep breath she nodded a little, "do you believe in alternate realities?"

Oliver blinked. "You mean like other dimensions where there's another me?" he asked uncertainly.

Pursing her lips together, she nodded a little.

"I've never really given it a lot of thought," he said, raising his eyebrows.

"Neither had I," Chloe said quietly, "but I went to another one and a man who called himself Doctor Fate said I had to help you become the version of you I had met there."

"Doctor Fate," he echoed.

Nodding, she watched him closely, "need that drink now?"

Oliver didn't respond to her question. "So you met another me?"

"Yeah," she said quietly, "he saved my life."

His eyes widened a little and he stared at her. "From what?"

"Well," Chloe took a deep breath and shifted on the couch, toward him, "I kind of just showed up there, one minute I was sitting in my dorm, the next, I was starting in the middle of a busy street with traffic flowing both ways, you-- he just picked me up and took me to the nearest rooftop."

Now he needed a drink. He stared at her for a long moment, then rubbed his hands over his face. 

"Do you need some time to process this?" She asked quietly.

He wasn't sure how to answer that. As crazy as it _sounded_ , it actually made sense to him. Why she'd shown up in Star City without ever having met _him_ , why she'd maintained such confidence that he could do this vigilante hero thing. "I don't know," he said honestly.

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded a little, that was answer enough for her, "do you want a drink?"

Oliver shook his head a little, looking at her once more.

She nodded slightly and pursed her lips together but didn't say anything, giving him time.

He leaned back on the sofa, falling silent for several long moments. "How is that you have so much faith?" he asked quietly.

"I saw it with my own eyes, Oliver," she told him quietly, "there isn't a lot to question."

"I mean...in all of this. I mean this Doctor Fate told you to come find me?" His eyebrows furrowed a little.

With a deep breath, she shrugged a little, "I didn't have anything to lose."

"How can that be?"

"What did I lose by coming here?" She asked, shaking her head, "I figured worst case scenario, you would ignore me completely and I would go back home once the Summer semester was over."

Oliver gazed at her intently, realizing he knew very little about her. "But what about your family, Chloe? Your friends?"

"Metropolis is only a three hour flight away, besides, I can always get a ride from the Blur if I need to be there really fast," she told him quietly, shrugging.

He was quiet for a moment. "Have you been back at all since you got here?"

Chloe took a deep breath and shook her head a little, "I haven't been here that long though," she said quietly.

"Do you miss it?" he asked softly, looking down at his hands.

She considered that for a moment then shook her head, "I was missing it when I wasn't doing anything, but since you came to find me, I haven't really."

He looked up at her once more. "Anytime you want to visit, you can use the jet."

Raising her eyebrows, she watched him for a moment and smiled softly, "thank you."

Oliver smiled back a little, gazing at her intently. "You know, earlier you said something..."

Chloe arched her eyebrows a little and looked at him, "what?"

"About wanting a place with your own bathroom." He raised his eyebrows back at her. "I have a lot of guest rooms."

"Oh," she stared at him, her eyes widening a little, "I wasn't hinting at anything."

"I know," he said sincerely, searching her eyes. "But I do have the space. And we've been spending most of our time together anyway. And when we get going with all of this, we'll be working out of here..." He paused. "And honestly, I wouldn't at all mind the company."

She pursed her lips together and nodded a little, she wanted to say yes, but she had to try and be rational about this, "I still have a month on my lease," she told him quietly, "if you're still okay with this then, I wouldn't mind the company either."

"Fair enough," he said just as quietly.

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded a little, "so are you okay? With what I told you?"

He offered her a small, wry smile. "I'm not going to say it's not bizarre." 

"I would be worried if you thought it was perfectly normal," Chloe admitted, smiling softly as she leaned back against the couch.

Oliver smirked at that. "I bet you weren't expecting something like this to hijack your whole life."

"Not really," she agreed then smiled softly, "but it was a welcomed surprise."

"I want to get to know you better." He gazed at her, his expression serious once more.

She held her breath and nodded a little, "I would like that too." She knew a lot about who he could become, about the hero, but she still had a lot to learn about the man.

He smiled softly, holding his hand out to her silently.

Chloe smiled back at him and took his hand, sliding her fingers through his as she held his gaze, maybe she had been there to try and get him where he should be, but she couldn't help but feel like this was exactly where _she_ should be too.


	8. Chapter 8

  


Oliver Queen had never in his entire life been nervous before a date. But tonight he was just that. His stomach was knotted, and while the plans were all his own, he was worried that it was going to be either too much or not quite enough to impress Chloe Sullivan. After all, she had a friend who could run _at the speed of light_. He wasn't sure there was anything he could do to match that, either as a vigilante or personally. It wasn't a feeling he was accustomed to at all. 

Things with Chloe had been so easy up to this point. She was smart--really smart. And beautiful. And because an Oliver Queen in another universe had saved her life she had unwavering faith that _he_ was going to be just as heroic.

But up until a few days ago, he hadn't been certain that wasn't just some kind of naive, wide-eyed innocence on her part. He hadn't expected that she'd actually have feelings for him the way that he did for her--admiration, unshakable, undeniable attraction, but something else, as well. Some kind of kinship that he'd never felt with anyone else before. Despite the fact there was a lot that they didn't know about one another's lives, there was a connection between them that both startled and thrilled him. 

And he was afraid he was going to mess that up. After all, that's what Oliver Queen was known for. But the faith she had in him made him wonder if he was really capable of changing, of being better. 

Of being the kind of guy that people actually liked and wanted to get to know for reasons besides his bank account. 

He drew in a breath as he checked the lasagna in the oven. It was nearly done (at least he hoped). He carefully slid the garlic bread onto the top shelf of the oven to begin heating it, as well. Then he moved over and lit the candles at the table that was set. He turned the stereo system on, flipping it to soft piano music. 

No sooner had he dimmed the lights was there a knock on the door. He swallowed hard, forcing himself to take a deep breath and exhale slowly before moving over to the door and opening it. He greeted her with a soft smile. "Hi," he said quietly.

"Hi," she breathed quietly, smiling up at him as she stood by the door, her heart beating fast against her chest. She hadn't been this nervous for a date since the Spring fling dance with Clark their freshman year. As a matter of fact, she was probably more nervous now because back then, she was questioning if he even liked her like _that_ and with Oliver, she knew he felt the intensity of whatever this was between them too and she wanted to make sure things worked out, that she could be the person her other self was for the other version of him. 

"Come on in," he said softly, reaching his hand out to her.

Chloe took his hand and relaxed just slightly, "whatever you are making smells great," she told him quietly, keeping her eyes on his face.

He smiled at that, sliding his fingers through hers. "Lasagna," he told her, holding her gaze. He closed the door behind her.

Squeezing his hand lightly she smiled up at him and raised her eyebrows, "sounds great, did you actually make it?"

"Yeah," he admitted, nodding. "Since we eat out a lot, I figured this would be something different."

"It is different," she said quietly, "and impressive."

He smiled, almost shyly and shrugged a little. "Hopefully it tastes all right. It's been a long time since I've actually cooked."

"What else can you make?" She asked curiously, taking a step closer to him.

"As long as I have the ingredients and a recipe?" He raised his eyebrows. "Pretty much anything."

Chloe stared up at him and nodded a little, "that's awesome, I can make coffee. That's about it."

Oliver chuckled involuntarily at her admission. "Well, that's not really a big deal," he assured her, resting a hand on the small of her back and leading her further into his apartment.

She smiled a little and nodded, "I'm really good at ordering take out and putting things in the microwave."

He grinned, pressing a soft kiss to her temple without really thinking about it.

Her heart skipped a beat and she leaned closer to him, smiling softly as she looked around, only now that she managed to take her eyes off him, noticing the candles and the soft music playing, "you didn't have to go through all this trouble," she said quietly as her chest tightened. No one had ever done something like that for her and the fact that he had actually made this huge effort made the butterflies in her stomach multiply.

"I wanted to," he said softly, reaching up to touch her cheek.

"Thank you," she whispered, looking up at him with bright eyes.

Oliver smiled as he met her eyes, feeling himself beginning to relax. "Welcome," he whispered back, leaning in and brushing his nose lightly over hers before kissing her softly.

Chloe lifted her hand to his arm and gave it a soft squeeze as she kissed him back. Somehow, and she had no idea how she had managed, they hadn't done more than that yet. Kissing him was incredibly powerful and part of her was almost afraid she wasn't going to survive the intensity of sex with him, most of her couldn't wait for it, but she didn't want to rush into anything, she wanted to do this right and this was their first official date and there was a lot about each other that they didn't know yet.

He closed his eyes, sliding his other arm around her and holding her close even as the kiss ended a few moments later. He leaned his forehead against hers. "How was your day?" he asked softly.

"Not as productive as it could have been," she admitted, grinning softly, "but I managed to work on the system some more, how was yours?"

Oliver couldn't help but grin at her response. "Well, I texted you for two hours through a meeting I had this morning, texted you some more over lunch, then took the afternoon off for tonight. So, all in all, it was pretty good."

She grinned softly and nodded a little, "I think we should make this the usual routine," she teased.

He chuckled. "Sounds good to me." He kissed the tip of her nose.

Chloe smiled then pulled back just enough to lift her head and press her lips to his. They hadn't really talked about relationship statuses or anything, but things with Oliver felt so incredibly natural, she had never felt so comfortable being herself around someone like she did with him.

He kissed her back without hesitation. "Are you hungry?" he asked a moment later.

"Yeah," she told him, smiling up at him but not pulling away.

Oliver smiled back at her, holding her gaze and nodding just a little.

"Is the food ready?" She asked quietly, dropping her hand over his arm and sliding her hand into his.

"Pretty close," he said, nodding and squeezing her hand.

"Show me what you made?" She suggested, not taking her eyes off him.

"Absolutely." He lifted her hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles lightly and then guiding her into the kitchen.

Squeezing his hand, she smiled and walked with him, she could get used to this easily; his attentiveness, the fact that he was actually trying to make her feel special, it was new to her, but she found herself enjoying it.

* * *

Oliver set the the bowl of gelatto on the table and took his seat beside Chloe once more. "Here we go." He smiled at her, handing her a spoon.

"Thank you," she told him quietly, smiling at him as she took the spoon, "so did you ever have a bad reaction to your peanut allergy? Or do you manage to be pretty safe?"

He nodded a little. "Yeah, I had to be taken to the emergency room when I was nine. It's how we discovered I had an allergy, actually."

Chloe frowned a little and nodded, "but never since?" She asked, "is there something you can take if it starts to happen?"

"No, not since," he assured her. "And yeah. An eppy pen." He smiled a bit. "But don't worry. There aren't any nuts in the gelatto."

"Well," she shrugged and smiled a little, "it's just good to know, just in case."

He couldn't help but smile back at her. "What about you? Any allergies?"

"Not that I know of," she admitted, "other than the usual ones everyone has."

"Mold?" he teased, nudging her foot with his lightly.

"That too," she told him, smiling softly.

He dug his spoon into the gelatto and ate a bite of it, grinning at her.

Chloe did the same and raised her eyebrows a little, "this is really good," she told him, smiling at him.

"I didn't make it. It's store-bought," he said lightly, winking at her.

She laughed softly and shook her head, "I would think you're in the wrong business if you had."

Oliver grinned. "Touche," he agreed.

"So what else should we know about each other?" She asked curiously and smiled a little after another bite.

"I don't know." He considered that, cocking his head to the side. "What do you want to know? I'm an open book." He paused. "Well. For you anyway."

Chloe grinned a little and shook her head, "that's good to hear," she admitted then shrugged, "I'm not sure, I think we have covered all our basis and the rest will come up eventually?"

He nodded a little, smiling back at her. "Sounds good to me," he said softly.

She nodded a little, finishing her dessert a moment later, "thank you for dinner," she said sincerely, "everything was amazing."

"You're welcome." He leaned over and kissed her very softly on the mouth, then pulled away, rising to his feet and picking up the empty dish.

Chloe picked up their empty glasses and followed them to the kitchen, not sure what he had planned after dinner but she didn't want to leave.

"I was thinking we could either rent a movie and stay in or maybe take a walk on the beach," he suggested, glancing over at her.

"A walk sounds nice," she told him, "maybe if we're not too tired we can watch a movie when we get back?"

"Sounds good to me." He smiled softly as he put the dishes in the dishwasher.

"Do you need help?" She asked, stepping closer.

He turned just as she stepped closer, and slid his arms around her. "No. But a hug would be great."

She smiled at that and wrapped her arms around him, "you don't have to ask for those."

Oliver smiled, too, hugging her and resting his head against hers as he shut his eyes. "I like this a lot," he murmured.

Chloe hugged him tightly and closed her eyes too. With her ear pressed against his chest, she could hear his heart, "me too," she whispered.

* * *

A couple hours later found the two of them lying on the beach, watching the sunset over the water. He glanced at her sideways. "She saved my life," he said softly, looking over the ocean once more.

"It was a traumatic experience," Chloe said quietly, nodding a little, "it tends to bring people closer."

Oliver drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "Yeah, it does. It just doesn't tend to last."

Nodding again, she lifted her hand and ran her fingers through his hair gently, "what happened?"

He was silent for a moment. "She wanted to get married." He sighed very softly. "I wasn't ready for that, and honestly? It just never...felt right with her. I don't think it ever would have." He chewed on the inside of his cheek. "But instead of telling her that, I took the easy way out." Oliver looked down at the sand.

"What was that?" She whispered, watching him closely. She wasn't sure when they had started talking about their previous relationships, but she had the feeling this had a lot to do with why he thought so little of himself.

"I cheated on her," he admitted very quietly. "And broke her heart."

Her eyes widened a little and she pursed her lips together, "oh."

"Yeah." He stared out over the water.

"But you know it was wrong," she whispered, "you know there are better ways of dealing with things like that," there were no excuses for what he had done, but it had happened and it was over, he didn't need to kick himself over it.

"I do," he admitted. "But being a screw up is part of who I am, I guess."

"I don't believe that." She said quietly, wrapping an arm around his shoulders as she leaned closer.

"Even after that?" He leaned into her without really thinking about it.

"We all make mistakes," she murmured to him, "I have the feeling you would never do that to anyone again, if the guilt in your voice and expression is any indication."

Oliver shut his eyes, letting out a breath as he rested his head against hers. "No," he said very quietly. "I wouldn't."

Chloe pressed her lips to his cheek softly, her forehead pressed against his temple, "it will take a lot more than stories from your past to shake my confidence in you, Oliver."

He slid his arm around her, pulling her closer to his side. "Then I'm incredibly lucky," he whispered.

Her chest tightened a little and she smiled, wrapping her other arm around his front and hugging him. His words reminded her of what the other Oliver had told her just before she left and she smiled more, hugging him tightly.

"What about you?" he asked very softly, turning his head and kissing her temple.

"What about me?" She asked quietly, lifting her head toward him.

"Worst romantic relationship experience?"

She made a face and took a deep breath, laying her head on his shoulder, "I never really had a long-term relationship," she admitted, "the longest one lasted about three weeks and it wasn't really a relationship."

Oliver raised his eyebrows a little. "What was it then?" he asked quietly.

"A... fling?" She shrugged a little. "I was trying to get over my high school crush."

"Did it work?" he asked curiously.

Chloe smiled a little at that and shook her head, "of course not."

Oliver kissed the side of her head lightly. "No, I didn't figure," he admitted. "So what happened?"

"I went back to Smallville after my internship at the Planet and he smiled at me and hugged me and I knew it hadn't worked?" She told him quietly.

He hugged her a little tighter. "So what's wrong with this guy anyway?" he asked, shaking his head.

"He's my best friend," Chloe admitted, smiling a little, "he's been in love with his next door neighbor since he was like... five."

"Sounds like he missed out on something pretty amazing," he said quietly.

Her face softened at that and she shook her head a little, "it was better this way," she assured him, "things would never have worked out between the two of us and chances are, we wouldn't be friends anymore at this point."

Oliver was silent for a moment. "And you might not be here," he murmured.

"True," she agreed quietly, kissing his jaw softly, "and I never felt like I belonged somewhere as much as I do right now." Chloe whispered.

"Neither have I," he admitted, turning his head and kissing her softly.

Chloe returned the kiss just as softly as she rubbed her hand gently over his back. She had had feelings for him before they even met and every second she spent with him, they just intensified more.

Oliver lifted a hand to her cheek, cupping her face gently as they kissed.

There was no doubt about it.

He was falling for her.

Hard.


	9. Chapter 9

Authors: and   
Title: Fate  
Rating: PG-13  
Disclaimer: We don't own anything. We're just playing.  
Summary: This is an AU based on the beginning of season 5. Chloe was already going to MetU and hadn’t met Oliver yet until fate decided it was time for her to enter his life.

  
[One](adorableblondes.livejournal.com/24304.html) \-- [Two](http://adorableblondes.livejournal.com/24439.html) \-- [Three](http://adorableblondes.livejournal.com/24661.html) \-- [Four](http://adorableblondes.livejournal.com/24877.html) \-- [Five](http://adorableblondes.livejournal.com/25210.html) \-- [Six](http://adorableblondes.livejournal.com/25543.html) \-- [Seven](http://adorableblondes.livejournal.com/25612.html) \-- [Eight](http://adorableblondes.livejournal.com/25938.html)  


This was, officially, her longest relationship ever.

It had been three weeks and one day since they'd kissed and she had been seeing him pretty much every day since; both because of things they had to work on and because they had been going on dates. Not that it really mattered for her, as long as she could see him, she didn't really care what they were doing. It was comfortable and nice regardless of what they were doing.

Tonight was no different. She was a little later than usual because she'd been making notes so she could review for the two finals she was going to have this upcoming week and even though they had both already had dinner and it was a little after nine, she couldn't stop herself from going over. He had given her a call about half an hour ago, telling her there was something he really wanted to show her, despite the dirty direction her thoughts went in at his words, she had been able to hear the excitement in his voice and she knew there was nothing sexual about it. She could tell the difference by now and this was definitely superhero-related.

So after a quick shower she had driven to his penthouse as fast as possible and now she was just a couple of steps away from the door. Using her own key, she unlocked it and after knocking once, opened it, stepping inside and looking around the seemingly empty apartment, "Ollie?" She called, closing the door behind herself.

Oliver stepped out of his bedroom and headed down the hallway, dressed in the costume he'd put together based off the designs Chloe had given him in what he jokingly referred to as the Superhero Handbook. He raised his eyebrows even though she couldn't see it behind the dark night vision glasses that he wore. "What do you think?"

Chloe stilled when she saw him. The outfit was pretty much exactly what the other Oliver had worn, or what she'd seen of it anyway. It had been dark then, but she could see him perfectly well now. The boots, the green leather pants, the vest and the armbands. He looked ridiculously hot in all of it. She knew her mouth had dropped open, but she couldn't even blink, "wow."

"Yeah?" He couldn't help but grin at her response.

Licking her lips after a moment, she nodded, taking a couple of steps closer, "you look pretty much exactly like him."

He felt his gut tighten as he watched her lick her lips. "Makes sense," he answered, his voice a little huskier than usual. "Since I kind of am him."

She nodded a little and lifted a hand to touch the vest, "do you think that will protect you enough?" She asked quietly, looking up at him.

The breath caught in his throat at the light touch and without thinking about it, he reached up and covered her hand with his own. "I think I'll be okay," he murmured.

Chloe nodded a little and looked down at their hands, her heart beating a little faster, "you made all this on your own?"

"Took me a long time, but...yeah." He shifted closer to her.

She nodded a little, lifting her free hand and running her fingers through the gloves he had on, "it's amazing." She whispered.

Oliver dipped his head and kissed her mouth, unable to stop himself any longer. 

Chloe blinked a couple of times and kissed him back, shifting closer to him instantly. She always thought he was incredibly attractive but the uniform and the fact that he'd obviously worked so hard on it made her feel like she was actually making a difference in his life and that combination just made him unbearably irresistible.

He lifted one of his hands to cup her cheek, slowly deepening the kiss. After a moment, he broke it so he could catch his breath.

She took a deep breath too and blinked a couple of times, her eyes darker as she looked up at him, "did I mention you look really hot in it?" She said, her cheeks getting hot instantly, but she felt like he should know.

He grinned at that, brushing his nose over hers. "Just trying to keep up with you," he murmured, kissing the corner of her mouth.

Smiling softly, she, brushed her lips lightly against his then reached for his glasses and pulled them off him so she could see his eyes, "are these night vision?"

Oliver nodded a little, meeting her eyes instantly. "Yeah, they are." He reached up and pushed the hood back off his head.

Nodding, she slid his glasses over her eyes and smiled, "this is awesome, Ollie."

"It's all thanks to you." He slid his arms around her, pulling her a little closer to him.

Her face softened and she lifted the glasses over her head as she shifted closer to him, "give yourself the credit you deserve."

"Chloe, I would never have dreamed about doing something like this if you hadn't given me the idea," he said quietly.

"Maybe I nudged you in the right direction," she agreed, brushing her nose against his, "but you're putting a lot into this, Ollie. You've been practicing non-stop and you made this entire thing on your own, not to mention all the money you've spent."

"It was a team effort," he said, searching her eyes. He leaned his forehead against hers.

She reached a hand up to cup his cheek and smiled softly, brushing her nose against his, "I'll take that."

He smiled back, dipping his head and nibbling lightly on her jaw.

Chloe held her breath and closed her eyes, rubbing her other hand over his arm, not needing her eyes open to remember just how amazing they looked in his uniform.

"So what now?" he murmured, tangling a hand in her hair even as he pressed a kiss to the side of her neck.

She shivered and held her breath, turning her head and brushing her nose against his jaw, "I don't know."

"Me either," he admitted, resting a hand on her hip and kissing her jaw again.

Chloe took a deep breath and hesitantly lifted her hand to his vest once more, turning her head down a little and pulling the zipper down halfway.

Oliver held his breath at her actions, pulling his head back just enough to look at her, his eyes dark.

She looked up at him, her own eyes dark and slightly wide, "is this okay?" She whispered.

He nodded, watching her intently. "Yeah, this is okay," he whispered back.

Relaxing a little, Chloe nodded and pulled the zipper down all the way, holding her breath as the vest opened to reveal his bare chest. She lifted her hand from the zipper to his skin, touching his chest lightly.

He shut his eyes as she touched him, her small hand warm against his bare skin.

Chloe brushed her fingers down his chest and stomach, watching as his muscled reacted to her touch.

Oliver inhaled sharply, swallowing hard. "Chloe," he whispered, his voice strained.

She blinked and stilled her hand, turning her head up to look at him.

He gazed at her with dark eyes, reaching out and cupping her cheek in his hand once more. "There's no pressure."

Her face softened at that and she nodded slightly, leaning her face into his touch, "I know. And it goes both ways."

He nodded slightly, as well, kissing her very softly. "You're amazing," he murmured.

Chloe kissed him back just as softly, she wanted him more than she'd ever wanted anyone else before and although she had very little experience, she knew it wasn't the case with him, so she knew he'd been letting her take the initiative, but apparently he needed some more time.

Oliver brushed his nose against hers again, reaching down and taking her hand in his.

She pursed her lips together and linked her fingers with his, not sure what he was planning.

"Do you uh--do you want some tea or hot chocolate?" he asked quietly.

Raising her eyebrows a little, Chloe shook her head, "no, I'm okay." She told him, watching him closely, "are you?"

A smile tugged at his mouth. "I'm good," he promised.

She shifted slightly and shrugged a little, "did I make you uncomfortable?" She asked.

He blinked a couple of times. "No. Not at all. I just want to make sure you're ready before we take that step," he said softly.

Chloe held her breath a little and nodded, "this isn't just about me, though."

"I know," he murmured, lifting her hand to his cheek and turning his head to kiss her palm. "Do you feel ready?"

"I feel ready to explore more," she said quietly. They hadn't really done much, "but it's okay if you don't want to do that."

"Oh, I want to do that," he said without thinking, raising his eyebrows. Then he grinned a little, shrugging, embarrassed.

She relaxed a little and nodded, blushing slightly and shrugging, "and we can see where it takes us," because she really didn't care if they actually had sex, her feelings for him were stronger than they had ever been for anyone else, even Clark.

"All right," he agreed, smiling softly and dipping his head to kiss her.

Chloe kissed him back and squeezed his hand, smiling softly against his lips.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked. "My room? Or the couch?"

She shrugged a little and smiled at him, "it doesn't matter to me," she said, "are you... comfortable in that?" She asked, looking down at his uniform.

"I should probably try and get used to it before I go out to kick bad guy ass." He grinned. "But I can do that some other time." He paused. "Unless you want me to leave it on." He raised his eyebrows, a smirk tugging at his mouth.

At that, she paused, her eyes darkening a little at the idea, "maybe not tonight," she said quietly, "but definitely some other time."

His own eyes darkened at the look on her face. "I'll go change," he murmured, kissing her.

Chloe kissed him back but added a little more pressure and hunger against his lips this time, squeezing his hand in hers.

He groaned softly, unable to resist reaching out and tugging her closer to him, so their bodies were pressed right up together.

She gasped a little and wrapped her arms around him instantly, surprised at his reaction.

Without really thinking about it, he picked her up effortlessly, still kissing her.

She opened her eyes, surprised once more but didn't break the kiss. Closing her eyes a moment later, she lifted her arms and wrapped them around his neck, holding on to him.

Oliver broke the kiss after a few moments simply to catch his breath. His eyes were even darker now and he gazed at her intently, breathing hard.

Chloe took a deep breath, only as she pulled her mouth from his, she realized she had wrapped her legs around him. Her heart was beating fast against her chest as she lifted a hand to cup his cheek.

He met her eyes, leaning in and kissing her once more, carrying her toward his bedroom. 

She kissed him back, sliding her fingers into his hair as she kissed him back, pulling him closer.

Oliver groaned softly, carrying her over to his bed and laying her down, kissing her intensely, nibbling on her lower lip.

Chloe rubber her fingers over his head as she adjusted over the bed, her other hand sliding inside his vest once more as she ran her fingers over his back.

He shifted slightly, sitting up on his knees and shrugging the vest off, letting it fall to the floor. Then he smiled down at her, stretching out beside her a moment later.

She blushed a little but grinned softly at him, turning on her side to face him.

He grinned back, reaching out and resting a hand on her hip. He leaned in, kissing her softly on the mouth.

Shifting closer to him, she wrapped her arm around him as she returned the kiss, softly this time. Knowing that he seemed to want her as much as she wanted him was enough to make her relax and not want to rush into anything.

Oliver slid a hand into her hair once more, gently massaging her scalp as they kissed. "You're so beautiful," he murmured.

She ran her fingers over his back and smiled softly, "and you are gorgeous," she whispered to him, brushing her nose against his.

He smiled against her mouth, sliding his hand up and down her side a little.

Chloe brushed her fingers over his skin as she kissed him slowly, shifting just a little closer to him.

"Feel free to explore," he teased softly, kissing the corner of her mouth.

She grinned and nodded a little, brushing her bottom lip against his, then whispered in a husky voice she didn't even know she was able of coming up with, "you too."

Oliver grinned at that, shivering a little and slowly sliding his hand under her shirt to touch her bare skin.

Chloe shivered too, holding her breath as she felt his warm hand against her skin.

"Tell me if anything makes you uncomfortable," he murmured.

"I will," she whispered,"you too?" Chloe said quietly, running her fingers over his side slowly.

"Will do," he murmured, kissing her softly once more.

With a breath, she kissed him back, happy to just do this for hours as long as she could be close to him.

* * *

Oliver woke up the next morning slowly, his eyebrows furrowing as he discovered his arm draped around another body. He smiled a little, relaxing as he realized who it was. He pressed a soft kiss against her shoulder, slowly opening his eyes. He brushed his fingers lightly over her stomach, nuzzling into the back of her neck as he shifted closer.

She wasn't even awake as she shivered a little, her eyes opening wide when she felt someone pressed up against her, last time she'd shared a bed, it had been with Lois and Lois didn't snuggle, she kicked and stole the covers. But it took her less than a second to realize who it was. Smiling a little, she snuggled back against him, relaxing. She hadn't really been planning on leaving the previous night, so this had worked out better than she'd expected.

"Morning," he whispered, more than content to just lie there beside her, holding her.

"It it morning already?" She whispered, sliding her hand over his and linking their fingers together.

"It is," he murmured, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

Chloe smiled softly and turned her head toward him, "that sucks."

"Well, at least it's Saturday. We could sleep more." He kissed her neck softly.

She shivered again and smiled, "I can wake up, I just don't want to get up."

"Are you hungry?" He smiled at her shiver.

"A little," she told him quietly, letting go of his hand and running her fingers over his arm. This was so comfortable and although they hadn't done more than make out, her body felt so relaxed.

"I could make some breakfast," he offered softly. "Pancakes, bacon, eggs."

Chloe grinned softly and squeezed his arm, "keep that up and I'll never leave."

"Promise?" He rested his cheek against hers.

She took a deep breath and shifted, turning toward him, "as long as you want me around."

Oliver lifted a hand to her cheek, gently brushing his thumb over it. "Always," he said softly, gazing at her.

Her stomach clenched a little at that and she nodded, brushing her nose against his.

He smiled softly, pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth. "Have you given it anymore thought?" His voice was quiet.

It was weird that she didn't have to ask him what he was referring to. They hadn't talked about her moving to his apartment for almost a month, since the night he had first kissed her, but she knew that was what he meant, "are you sure about it?"

"Completely," he said without hesitation, resting his forehead against hers.

"Then I have no reason not to," she told him quietly, lifting her hand to cup his cheek.

He smiled at that, leaning into her touch.

"Was it ever this comfortable with someone else for you?" She asked quietly because although she'd never been this close with anyone else before, she was pretty sure it wasn't normal for things to be so easy.

"No," he said quietly, searching her eyes. "But I feel like a different person now than I used to be."

Her chest tightened once more, this time with hope and she smiled, nodded a little, "I do too."

"Thank you," he whispered.

"Why are you thanking me?" She whispered, her face softening.

"Because I don't think anyone has ever had the kind of blind faith in me that you do," he admitted softly.

"I don't know why they wouldn't have," Chloe said quietly, hugging him to her, "you're so amazing."

Oliver hugged her back, pressing a kiss to her temple. "I love you." His voice was almost inaudible.

Her eyes widened a little and she hugged him even tighter as she closed her eyes, "I love you too."

His chest grew warm when she returned the words. "And for the record, I think you're amazing, too."

Chloe brushed her nose against his cheek then pressed a kiss to his jaw.

He shifted slightly and kissed her mouth.

She kissed him back and pressed her palm against his back, holding him to her.

"I've been thinking about Italy," he murmured after a moment.

Chloe raised her eyebrows and pulled back enough to look at him, "oh?"

He nodded a little. "I think we should go soon."

Holding her breath, she smiled a little and watched him closely, the butterflies in her stomach coming on full force, "you do? What about your training?"

"I can keep it up there," he assured her, gently rubbing her back. "We have a Villa there."

"You do?" She asked, surprised. "When would you want to go?"

"Whenever," Oliver told her softly. "Whenever you're free. After classes are done for the semester?"

"Well, I have my finals on Monday," she told him, "I'm done after that."

He smiled. "So maybe mid-week?"

Her eyes widened a little and she pursed her lips together then nodded, "for how long?"

"A week? Two?" He gazed at her. "It's up to you."

With a deep breath, she nodded a little, "I just want to be with you."

Oliver's expression softened at that. "Me too," he whispered, lifting her hand to his mouth and kissing her palm.

"How much longer do you think you need before you first patrol?" She whispered.

"I don't know," he admitted, searching her eyes. "What are your thoughts on it?"

"I think you need to train with the grappling hook some more," she told him quietly, "maybe you can do that at the Villa?"

He nodded a little. "Yeah, I can," he agreed.

"Okay," she told him quietly, "and when we get back, I can ask the Blur to keep an eye on you if you feel ready for it."

"Think I'll get to meet him at some point?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," she nodded a little, "I'm sure you will."

He smiled at that, kissing her gently on the mouth. "Do you like pancakes?"

Chloe smiled softly and kissed him back, nodding, "I love pancakes," she whispered against his lips, "do you also know how to make them from scratch?"

Oliver grinned and raised his eyebrows. "I do."

"Show me how?" She asked, smiling at how proud of himself he seemed.

"Yeah, absolutely." He smiled a bit more and kissed her again before reluctantly rolling out of bed.

She took a deep breath and sat up, her eyes falling on his bare back once more and she smiled, it was hard to believe that someone who looked like _that_ was in love with her, but she didn't doubt him for a second.

Oliver leaned down and picked up his sweat pants from the floor. He'd slept in boxers after making sure she was all right with it the night before, but he didn't want to make her uncomfortable by walking around half-naked making breakfast. He glanced at her over his shoulder and winked.

Her heart skipped a beat at that. Biting on her bottom lip, she smiled up at him then got up too, picking up her top that had been removed the previous night and sliding it on.

"I'll start the coffee." He grinned at her and headed out the door.

Chloe grinned softly at that and took a deep breath before following him, she wondered if things had happened this easily for the other version of them, but she couldn't imagine it going any other way when they felt so _right_ together.


	10. Chapter 10

On Thursday morning, Chloe found herself waking up in Italy. They had gotten there late the previous night so she hadn't really seen much of the country yet. The Villa was about an hour away from Venice, by the mountains, which Chloe could see from the bed where she and Ollie had spent the night in.

He wasn't there anymore, but she could hear the faint whooshing sound of arrows coming from somewhere outside so she knew he wasn't far.

After washing her face and changing into a sundress, she walked over to the window and looked outside. The view was breathtaking, the house was on top of a hill and to one side, Chloe could see the mountains, to the other she could see a few houses but not that many and nothing close to them. They were pretty much isolated up there, it seemed.

And then she turned her attention to the grounds around the house and couldn't help but smile when she saw Oliver standing there, practicing.

This whole thing felt like a fairy tale, and for a change, she was actually the lucky princess. It was crazy to think that they had only met about two and half months ago at this point and they were already so incredibly close and in love, but it didn't feel rushed, it didn't feel insane or scary; it felt _right_ , like things were exactly how they were supposed to be. Maybe that guy had known a thing or two about fate.

A moment later, she made her way downstairs and out the kitchen door to the back yard, well, more like a garden. It was huge and perfectly well maintained, there were flowers and grapevines and a pool with a waterfall on the side of it. And then there was Oliver.

Chloe watched as he pulled the string on the bow, the look on his face was pure concentration and she couldn't help but smile as the arrow hit the target dead in the center.

"I guess maybe you do know a thing or two about archery," she said quietly not to startle him as she stepped closer.

He turned to look at her, grinning at her. "Morning." His gaze swept over her and he held his breath for a moment. "Wow."

She blinked and her cheeks got warm instantly, "what?" She asked quietly, looking down at herself.

"You look beautiful," he told her with a soft smile.

"Oh," Chloe smiled and walked up to him, "thank you."

Oliver leaned his bow against the fence behind him and turned to face her, sliding his arms around her waist and dipping his head to kiss her softly.

She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck as she kissed him back just as softly.

He leaned his forehead against hers. "Sleep well?"

"Really well," she told him, brushing her nose against his, "how long have you been up?"

"A couple hours." He smiled softly, lifting a hand to her cheek.

"What time is it here?" She asked quietly, leaning into his touch.

"About ten." He stroked her cheek lightly with his thumb, then gently moved it over her lower lip.

She pressed a kiss over his thumb without taking her eyes off him, "it's early."

He nodded a little, holding her gaze. "It is," he murmured. "I wanted to get in some practice before we went to do some sight-seeing."

"This is perfectly acceptable sight-seeing," she whispered, smiling a little.

Oliver couldn't help but smile at that. "Well, I won't disagree with you on that."

"You can practice for a while longer if you want to," she told him quietly, "I can watch you, get used to what kind of things you can do."

"You sure you won't be too bored?" He brushed his nose over hers.

"Boredom definitely won't be the issue," she said quietly, smirking slightly.

He raised his eyebrows at that, intrigued. "What will be?"

"Keeping my hands off you?" She said, smirking more and cocking her head.

"Oh, that's not an issue," he assured her.

She grinned and raised her eyebrows, "it could be when you have sharp objects in your hands."

He grinned back at her. "I also have good reflexes?"

"I would hope so considering the business you're getting yourself into," Chloe said quietly, brushing her lips against his.

Oliver kissed her slowly, bringing one hand up to tangle gently in her hair.

She dropped her hands and ran them down his chest before wrapping her arms around his back as she kissed him just as slowly.

He brushed his nose lightly over hers, shifting closer to her. "I love you," he whispered. Saying the words to her came so easily to him--especially considering he'd never said them before to anyone besides his parents when he was little.

"I love you too," she whispered to him, smiling softly, "thank you for bringing me here."

He smiled back, resting his forehead against hers. "Thank you for agreeing to come with me."

"I would go anywhere with you," she said quietly. She wasn't normally like this, so open, but she meant everything with him, like she could be completely sure he would never hurt her.

His eyes brightened at that. "I'll take you anywhere you want to go," he whispered.

Chloe grinned a little at that, "we have plenty of time to go places." She told him, tightening her arms around him.

"Yes, we do," he agreed quietly, kissing her softly.

She kissed him back for a long moment then pulled back enough to look at him, "I should let you practice." She said quietly even as she ran her hands slowly over his back.

"I don't know. Now I'm pretty distracted." He flashed her a bright smile.

Laughing softly, she raised her eyebrows, "we will have to find some kind of system when we get back to Star City where we actually have to do stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" He wiggled his eyebrows playfully, winking at her.

Chloe raised her eyebrows and smirked, running her hand over his back then at his side, pulling his shirt up just slightly, "hm, I have a few things in mind."

"Do tell." He smirked back, sliding his own hands down to rest on her hips, his thumb moving lightly over the material of her dress, a barely there caress.

"Well," she slid her hand inside his shirt and shrugged, "we could start with removing some layers since it's pretty warm outside," she told him, her eyes darkening, they hadn't actually had sex yet, but every time he touched her was making her more and more impatient, being here in this beautiful place, completely alone with him was only making it worse.

His own eyes darkened at the suggestion. "We could," he agreed softly, leaning in and pressing a kiss to her neck. "It is awfully warm out."

"And leave the sight-seeing for a while later," she whispered, brushing her hand over his stomach lightly and slowly.

"Or until tomorrow even," he murmured, shuddering a little at the light touch. He nuzzled his nose against her jaw.

"I think that'd be okay," she whispered, lifting his shirt slowly.

Oliver nodded, pulling back to look at her for a moment and then leaning in to kiss her again.

She smiled against her lips and ran her hands over his bare skin slowly as she kissed him back.

He shifted slightly, tugging the shirt off over his head and winding his arms around her once more, his fingers rubbing lightly at the back of her neck, then trailed lower, dancing just above the zipper of her dress.

Chloe shivered a little and shifted closer to him, running her nails lightly over his back before breaking the kiss, "can anyone see us here?" She whispered.

Oliver shook his head a little. "No, but we could move this inside," he murmured, brushing his nose against hers.

"I don't care either way," she whispered, moving her hands over his stomach then sliding her fingertips inside the band for his sweatpants.

He swallowed hard, glancing around. "I'm not sure how comfortable we'd be out here."

"I'll let you carry me inside if that'd make you more comfortable," she whispered, moving her lips to his jaw then neck and pushing her hands inside the sides of his pants and boxers.

He shuddered a little, reaching out and stilling her hands before kneeling down and picking her up bridal-style in his arms. His eyes were dark as he carried her toward the house.

She smirked a little and wrapped her arms around his neck, looking at him for a moment before nibbling on his jaw. Knowing how the little things affected him made her a lot more confident and a lot more relaxed about her lack of experience compared to him.

He groaned softly, nudging the door open with his foot and then reaching back to pull it shut behind them. He carried her up the stairs without hesitation, laying her down on the large bed they'd slept in.

Chloe looked up at him and smiled, shifting on the bed so she was further into the middle of it and holding his gaze.

He gazed down at her intently, then leaned down, pressing a kiss to her stomach, and then slowly trailing his mouth up to hers once more, his forearms supporting most of his weight above her.

She lifted her hands to his stomach, running her fingers over his skin as she kissed him back.

He brushed his nose against hers, kissing her once more. Then he slid his arms beneath her, flipping them so she was on top of him and smiling up at her.

Chloe blinked and smiled down at him, leaning down once more and brushing her nose against his before kissing him slowly but deeply.

Oliver returned the kiss without hesitation, his tongue gently brushing against hers as his hands slid up her back, slowly unzipping her dress.

She made a quiet noise in the back of her throat, shivering and shrugging her dress off a little.

He held his breath as he helped her slide the dress down, revealing the lacy white bra she wore. He didn't hesitate to slide a hand up to cup one of her breasts gently.

Chloe moaned quietly at the feel of his large, warm hand over her breast and lowered her head, brushing her lips against his then sucking his bottom lip in her mouth.

Sliding his other arm around her, he sat up so she was in his lap. "Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?" he murmured.

Her face softened and she shifted, pressing her knees over the bed before shifting closer to him and settling on his lap and lifting a hand to cup his cheek, "I'm starting to believe you."

He turned his head and kissed her palm before meeting her eyes once more. "Good," he whispered. "Because you _should_ know." He kissed the corner of her mouth, his hands gently massaging her neck and shoulders.

Sighing deeply, she relaxed against his touch, "like you should believe how amazing you are," she told him quietly.

Oliver's expression softened at that and he gazed at her for a moment. "I'll work on it if you will," he whispered.

"You have a deal," she told him quietly, brushing her thumb over his cheek.

He smiled softly at her, nodding a little and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

Chloe closed her eyes for a second then pulled back to look at him again, holding his gaze and smiling softly for a moment before leaning in and kissing him deeply.

He returned the kiss with urgency, tangling one hand in her hair and tugging her closer to him.

She moaned quietly against his lips then shifted as close to him as she could, pressing her body flush against his.

Oliver slid her dress down to her hips, his hands moving to explore the bare skin that he revealed, fingers tracing light, gentle patterns as he touched her. "So soft," he murmured.

She shivered a little, his light touches making her want a lot more than that. She turned her head and brushed her lips against his neck, nibbling on his skin.

He groaned softly, nipping at her earlobe and pulling away just enough to look at her as his hands slid down to her bra clasp, his eyes questioning.

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded a little, holding his gaze, "we don't have to stop," she said sincerely, her eyes darkening again.

He smiled at her, nodding. "Just making sure. If I do anything you don't like, just tell me," he murmured.

"You too," she said quietly, smiling softly at him, brushing her nose against his before kissing him again, she loved him, she loved kissing him, she loved the feel of his hands on her body, she wanted to feel more.

Oliver held his breath as he undid the clasp and slowly slid it down and off her arms. He slid his hands around her body to gently cup her breasts. "Perfect," he whispered, glancing up at her.

Chloe blushed, her face feeling warm as she blush ran all the way down her her chest and she smiled at him, brushing her fingertips down his chest and over his stomach.

His muscles jumped a little beneath her touch and he smiled, dipping his head and capturing a nipple in his mouth, swirling his tongue around it gently.

She moaned, closing her eyes as she arched her back, holding on to him not to lose physical contact.

He groaned at the noise she made, sliding his arm around her back to support her better as he switched breasts, paying the other the same attention.

Chloe pressed her lower body against his, shuddering as she could feel his erection pressing against her leg already, even through his pants. 

Forcing himself to take a deep breath, Oliver lifted his head and kissed her mouth slowly once more, letting one hand slide to rest against her thigh, beneath her dress.

She kissed him back, forcing herself to take a deep breath too, then placed her hand over his and pulled it higher over her leg, encouraging him.

Oliver shifted just a little beneath her, sliding his hand higher until his fingers brushed lightly over her underwear. He broke the kiss, moving his mouth to her neck as he rubbed her core through the material.

She moaned again at the contact and closed her eyes as she lifted her head so he would have better access to her neck.

He nibbled his way across her skin as he shifted her so she was lying back on the bed, easing a finger inside of her and groaning softly at how ready she felt. "Oh, Chloe," he murmured, nuzzling against her jaw.

Chloe moaned louder this time, sliding her hand into his hair and wrapping her fingers around it, "Ollie," she breathed.

Oliver lifted his head and pressed his mouth against hers, kissing her urgently before pulling away, sliding her dress the rest of the way off, her underwear with it. He licked his lips as he gazed down at her nude body, feeling himself harden even more at the sight. "God. You are just...breath-taking."

She took a deep breath and looked over at him, her eyes wide and dark, not feeling like she should be covering herself as he stared at her, she reached over and cupped his cheek in her hand, "I want you," she whispered.

"You have me," he whispered back, leaning down to kiss her again before trailing a path of kisses down her body. 

She shivered and leaned back against her hands for support as she cocked her head to watch him.

He glanced up at her and smiled as he settled himself between her thighs, spreading them just a little wider before his mouth descended on her core, kissing her there softly and then darting his tongue out to taste her.

Chloe gasped, her eyes widening for a second then closing as she fell back on the bed, her hands wrapping around the sheets at the feeling of his mouth against her.

The gasp made him smile and he shifted slightly, sliding his arms beneath her ass and tilting her hips up a bit before flicking his tongue over her again, circling her clit slowly and looking up at her.

She moaned, thrusting against his lips as she pressed her feet against the mattress for support.

Oliver groaned softly against her as he watched her arch her back into the air, and he slid a finger insider her again, gently stroking her as he sucked the nub gently into his mouth.

Chloe shuddered hard, trying to control her hips as much as she could not to hurt him, but as her muscles started to cling to his finger, control was the last thing on her mind.

"Let go," he whispered, easing another finger inside her, trying to prepare her.

"Ollie!" She moaned, twisting her hands around the sheets as she moved against his hand and mouth, moaning loudly as her orgasm hit her full force, her back arching.

He continued to move his fingers gently inside her, helping her ride out the pleasure and then watching as she stilled beneath him. He smiled, kissing his way up her body once more until he reached her mouth.

She took a deep breath even as she pressed her mouth against him, shivering when she tasted herself in his kiss, then untangling her hands from the sheets and wrapping her arms around him.

"You okay?" he asked softly, brushing his nose over hers.

Chloe tried to answer him, but she couldn't form a coherent sentence so she just breathed, "wow..."

He grinned at that. "I'll take that as a yes." He kissed her forehead tenderly.

She pursed her lips together then looked up at him, her eyes wide still, her pupils dilated, "you're amazing."

Olive stroked her cheek, smiling softly. "Glad you think so."

"I love you," she breathed, leaning into his touch and smiling softly at him.

"I love you, too, Chloe." He kissed her softly once more.

Chloe kissed him back and cupped his cheek then wrapped her other arm around him. 

Oliver rested a hand against her stomach, slowly exploring her skin as he dipped his head to kiss her jaw.

She closed her eyes and rubbed her fingers over his hair, taking a deep breath.

"What do you want?" he murmured, kissing her neck.

"I'm ready for you," she whispered, opening her eyes and turning her head toward him.

"Are you sure?"

With a deep breath, Chloe nodded a little and looked at him.

He smiled softly, sliding his arms beneath her and turning them so she was atop him once more.

She took a deep breath and smiled down at him, touching his face then lowering her hand to his neck and chest as she shifted down his body.

Oliver drew in a deep breath, too, swallowing hard as he watched her.

Chloe ran her hand down his stomach then pressed her lips to his chest, kissing his skin down to his nipples and running her tongue over one of them.

He shuddered at that, reaching out and tangling his hand in her hair.

She smiled at his reaction then nibbled on on his nipple lightly as she ran her hands down his sides and hooked her fingers on his pants and boxers.

He licked his lips, shifting a little to help her get rid of his clothes.

Chloe shifted down, running her tongue and teeth over his skin as she moved down his stomach, pulling his clothes farther down.

"Christ," he whispered, shuddering again.

She pressed a wet kiss over his lower abdomen and lifted her eyes to his face.

He swallowed hard, propping himself up on his elbows. "Come here," he whispered.

Licking her lips, she lifted her body a little and looked over at him.

Oliver smiled up at her as he settled his hands lightly on her hips.

Chloe held her breath and shifted on her knees, smiling softly at him as she shifted closer to him.

"We'll go slow," he whispered, keeping his eyes on her.

Nodding slowly, she held his gaze for a moment then looked down at him, wrapping her fingers around him slowly and holding her breath. She knew how long it had been for her, well at least that it had been a long time, he didn't know exactly how long or that she'd only had sex once before, if that could be called sex.

"Relax," he murmured, even as his hips bucked a little at her touch.

Letting out her breath slowly, she positioned herself over him and nodded again, guiding him into her then slowly starting to lower her hips, a gasp escaping her as she closed her eyes tightly.

Oliver winced a little, holding her up before she sank down any farther. "Easy," he whispered.

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded a little, opening her eyes and looking at him, "it's okay," she whispered, trying to focus on him and not on the pain.

He watched her intently, holding her gaze. "Okay."

Slowly, she lowered her body further down feeling the pressure building up and blowing her breath out. 

"You okay?" he murmured, keeping his eyes on hers.

Pursing her lips together, Chloe nodded a little, "yeah," she whispered, just wishing the stupid pain wasn't getting in the way of feeling him inside of her for the first time.

He watched her intently, sliding a hand between them and stroking her gently.

"Oh," she whispered, shivering as a small amount of pleasure mixed with the pain.

He smiled a little when she shivered and he shifted beneath her, continuing to stroke her lightly.

Chloe took a deep breath and started to move slowly over him, spreading her legs further and willing her body to relax. 

"Better?" he asked softly, watching her.

"Yeah," she said quietly, holding his gaze and smiling a little at him.

He nodded, smiling back faintly, holding his body in check.

"It's okay," she whispered to him, taking another deep breath and let it out as she moved her body against his.

"Slow," he murmured, arching his back a little to meet her halfway.

Nodding, Chloe reached for his free hand and slid her fingers through his, holding on to it tightly.

He gently tugged her closer to him, knowing their movements would be more shallow from the angle, but wanting to be closer to her. "I love you."

She leaned over him and wrapped her other arm around him, relaxing a little once their bodies were completely pressed together, "I love you," she told him quietly.

Oliver brushed his nose against hers, kissing her softly as he slid his hand down her back, caressing her skin.

Chloe kissed him back, relaxing more on top of him even as they moved slowly together, the pain dissipating slowly.

He reached up, tucking some hair behind her ear and gazing at her intently.

She kept her eyes on him and turned her head slightly, kissing his wrist softly.

He smiled softly, kissing the corner of her mouth.

Kissing him softly, she let go of his hand and cupped his face in her hand, hugging him close to her as they kept moving together slowly.

Oliver returned the kiss without hesitation, moving with her, and letting her set the pace.

Her body had relaxed and kissing him had helped her focus her attention away from the pain, which had turned into a dull ache and after a few moment, the sparkle she still felt when he touched her started to come back and they picked up the pace slowly.

He smiled softly, sliding his hand down her back again, keeping her close to him.

Chloe shifted slowly over him and a moan escaped her when he hit something inside just right, she closed her eyes for a moment and moved again, her entire body shuddering at the feeling, "Ollie."

Oliver's eyes darkened at the moan and he thrust up into her once more, watching her intently.

She held his gaze, nodding just slightly to encourage him as her moans got louder and they started to move faster against each other. 

Within moments he felt himself careening toward the edge, sliding a hand between them and stroking her as they moved together.

She gasped loudly at the touch, her back arching even as she tried to keep her body as close to his as possible, pain completely forgotten as her stomach tightened with pleasure, all it took were a couple more thrusts for her to come undone, "Ollie!" She gasped breathlessly, both their bodies covered in a thin layer of sweat.

He thrust into her once more, shuddering hard as he hit his own climax, dropping his head back against the mattress and breathing heavily.

Chloe laid heavily on top of him a second later, trying to catch her breath as she rested her head over his shoulder.

Oliver stroked his hands lightly down her back, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Wow," he whispered.

She nodded slowly and kissed his shoulder softly, snuggling against him.

"Incredible," he murmured, reaching down and tugging a blanket up and over them.

Chloe turned her head and kissed his neck softly, "I love you," she whispered to him again, even though the words didn't feel like nearly enough right now.

"I love you, too," he whispered back without hesitation, gently stroking her hair.

"I never want to leave this bed," she murmured to to him, closing her eyes and pressing her nose against his neck.

He smiled at that. "Well, never's a long time. I think we might eventually get hungry," he teased.

Smiling softly, she nodded a little, "food is overrated." 

He chuckled. "Even if it's cooked just for you?"

"But that would mean you have to move and then I have to move and you are really comfortable to lay on," she said quietly, smiling softly as she finally turned her head to look at him.

"Well, you're welcome to use me as your pillow any time," he informed her, smiling back at her.

Lifting her head, she kissed him softly and smiled, "you are the most amazing man I've ever met since my dad." She whispered.

His expression softened at that. "And you are the most amazing woman I've ever met," he said quietly.  
"Thank you for letting me in," she told him, brushing her nose against his.

He kissed her softly in response.

Chloe took a deep breath and kissed him back, relaxing on top of him once more, her body was going to be sore soon, but she didn't care. It had been completely worth it, the pain would go away soon enough and for all she cared, they could spend the duration of their trip right there and it was going to be the best trip ever.


	11. Chapter 11

Authors: and   
Title: Fate  
Rating: NC-17  
Disclaimer: We don't own anything. We're just playing.  
Summary: This is an AU based on the beginning of season 5. Chloe was already going to MetU and hadn’t met Oliver yet until fate decided it was time for her to enter his life.

  
[One](adorableblondes.livejournal.com/24304.html) \-- [Two](http://adorableblondes.livejournal.com/24439.html) \-- [Three](http://adorableblondes.livejournal.com/24661.html) \-- [Four](http://adorableblondes.livejournal.com/24877.html) \-- [Five](http://adorableblondes.livejournal.com/25210.html) \-- [Six](http://adorableblondes.livejournal.com/25543.html) \-- [Seven](http://adorableblondes.livejournal.com/25612.html) \-- [Eight](http://adorableblondes.livejournal.com/25938.html) \-- [Nine](http://adorableblondes.livejournal.com/26120.html) \-- [Ten](http://adorableblondes.livejournal.com/26593.html)  
[Chapter Eleven](http://adorableblondes.livejournal.com/26748.html)  


Oliver paced the living room of their penthouse apartment slowly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Are you sure he's coming?"

"I'll kick his ass if he doesn't show up," Chloe said, smiling as she watched him, "relax, Ollie, he's just a guy."

"He's a superhero."

"And so are you," she said, standing up and taking his hand as she stepped in front of him, "and he's not an expert either, he's learning as he goes."

"Yeah, but he has powers and he's been doing this a lot longer," Oliver pointed out, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Not that much longer, trust me," Chloe said, tiptoeing and kissing him softly, "it's okay, Ollie."

His eyes drifted shut as he dipped his head to kiss her back, sliding an arm around her instinctively.

Chloe smiled against his lips and rubbed her hands soothingly against his arms, she had asked Clark to come over tonight so he and Oliver could go on his first patrol together, but she might not have mentioned that the Blur and her best friend from Smallville were the same person, but she felt like he'd be even more nervous if he knew he was meeting a superhero and one of the most important people in her life at the same time.

Oliver relaxed a little as the kiss lingered, letting her touch sooth his nerves. "Thank you," he murmured a moment later, resting his forehead against hers.

"I love you," she whispered to him, reaching up and cupping his cheek, "and he already knows how hard you've been working, he will respect you."

"I love you," he whispered back without hesitation, leaning into her touch and letting out a breath.

She squeezed his arms and pressed her lips to his one more time then paused when there was a knock on the door. Smiling softly, she kissed him quickly again, "told you he was coming," she said before making her way over to the door and opening it.

He swallowed hard, turning to face the door, and watching as she pulled it open to reveal a man about his height, with dark hair, wearing a blue t-shirt and jeans and a red jacket. "Hey."

Clark smiled at Chloe then walked in as she stepped aside, "Hi," he said.

"Ollie, this is Clark Kent," she told him, knowing that with the amount of stories she'd told him about high school over the past two weeks while they were in Italy, he was probably going to recognize the name, "Clark, this is Oliver Queen."

Oliver glanced at Chloe, his eyes widening just a little. Clark Kent. _Her first love_ , he realized, quickly putting the pieces together. "Nice to meet you," he said, extending his hand.

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Queen," Clark said politely.

Chloe smiled and nodded a little at the look on Oliver's face, "yeah, they are the same person," she told Ollie quietly, placing a hand on his arm and rubbing it softly.

Nodding a little, he shook Clark's hand and drew in a breath, sizing up the other man. All right, so he had super powers. And he and Chloe had known each other for a long time. But the guy's fashion sense definitely needed some work. And, Ollie thought. _I'm definitely better looking._

Clark rubbed the back of his neck, "hm, are you... ready to go?" He asked awkwardly.

"Yeah, let's get out there," he agreed, relaxing a little and turning to look at Chloe. "You ready?"

"Yeah," Chloe nodded, picking up the earpieces from the counter and holding one out to Ollie, "Clark can hear us without one of these, if you two split up, all you have to do is call out for him."

Clark nodded a little, "I'll let you take the lead, I'm just here to back you up."

Oliver nodded, as well, glancing at Clark for a moment and then dipping his head to kiss Chloe's mouth softly. "See you soon," he whispered.

His eyes widened a little and Clark looked away awkward.

Chloe smiled and nodded after returning the kiss, "be safe," she whispered, "good luck."

"Love you." He kissed her forehead and slid the earpiece into his ear, heading for the door.

"Love you too," she told him quietly then took a deep breath and once they walked out the door, she turned to her laptop, completely missing the odd look Clark was giving her.

* * *

It was about two hours later when Clark and Oliver made their way back to the penthouse, the night hadn't gone perfectly, Clark had helped Ollie on one situation where there were four guys and he missed one of them and nearly got for a knife to the arm, but overall, it had gone smoothly.

By the time he told her they were just outside, she could barely wait to see him and make sure he had made it back in one piece as well as hear more details about whatever she had missed while they were out there.

Oliver couldn't wipe the grin off his face as he made his way inside the penthouse, making a beeline for Chloe. "That was _incredible_!"

Clark followed behind him and smiled a little as he closed the door.

The breath caught on her throat when she saw the look on his face, she couldn't _not_ grin back at him, "from where I was, _you_ were incredible." She told him, making her way to him too.

He picked her up, kissing her on the mouth as his arms tightened around her. "Thank you," he whispered.

Chloe laughed softly when he picked her up and kissed him once more as she squeezed his arms softly, "you don't have to thank me, you did all the hard work yourself, Ollie."

"Because you pushed me in the right direction." He brushed his nose against hers, and kissed her softly once more.

Clark cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably, "I, hm, I'll head back." He told them awkwardly.

Chloe found it hard to take her eyes off Oliver but managed to turn to Clark and smiled a little, "thanks, Clark, call you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, talk to you tomorrow. Oliver." He said, nodding at the man before speeding away as fast as possible.

He winced a little. "Oops?"

She grinned and shook her head, wrapping her arms around his neck, "he's fine," she promised, kissing the corner of Ollie's mouth then pulling back enough to look at him, "tell me everything."

Oliver picked her up, setting her down on the desk behind them and kissing her once more before looking back at her. He told her about the mugging he'd stopped, about the woman he'd saved. He told her about the armed robbery with the four men--the incident that Clark had had to step in on--but he wasn't worried about that. It was his first night out. He'd get better the more he did it. He told her about the car-jacking he'd stopped by simply scaring the crap out of the teenagers trying to steal the car. By the time he was done, his eyes were bright and he was smiling broadly.

Chloe listened to him in silence, the more he talked about everything that had happened, the more she heard the excitement in his voice, the more she knew that this was _exactly_ what he had to be doing and the more proud of him she felt. She had nudged him in the right direction, sure, but he was the one putting all the effort into preparing himself and now going out there and helping people.

And as he smiled at her was when she realized the brightness in his eyes, the fact that he looked so _happy_ , so whole, so different from when she'd first met him outside of his office. Now when she looked at him, she realized he had the same look in his eyes that the other Oliver had, like he was accomplished, like his life was everything it should be.

With a deep breath, she reached to cup his face in her hands as she searched his eyes, wanting to remember that look on _his_ face. Her eyes felt warm but so did her chest, "I'm so proud of you," she whispered, smiling, "you're absolutely amazing, Ollie."

His chest felt warm at her words and he cupped her face in return, kissing her softly. "You're amazing, too. You know that right? I couldn't have done this without you."

She took a deep breath and smiled softly, "we make a good team," she whispered, brushing her thumbs over his cheek.

"Yes, we do." He leaned into her touch. "I love you."

"I love you too," she whispered, gently pulling his face closer to hers and resting her forehead against his, "there are a couple of things I need to come clean about."

His eyebrows furrowed at that. "Like what?"

"Well," she took a deep breath, "that day you helped me, when you saved me from the mugger?" She said quietly, searching his eyes.

He cocked his head to the side. "What about it?"

"I wanted to get your attention," she admitted, "I wanted to prove to you that you had it in you, so I asked Clark to pretend he was mugging me so you would come to my rescue."

Oliver arched an eyebrow of that. "You faked your own mugging?"

"Well," she shifted on the desk, "I didn't want either one of us to be in danger but you weren't reaching out to me and I had promised I wasn't going to bother you, that I was going to let you contact me, and I was getting impatient because Doctor Fate said I had to help you as soon as possible and I thought it might help." She said all in one breath, trying to read him.

"Chloe." His voice was quiet. "It's all right. I needed the kick in the ass."

She paused and took a deep breath, watching him closely, "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, I just didn't want you to second guess yourself when you went out there," she started to smile, "and now that you know what an amazing superhero you already are, I figured it'd be okay for me to tell you the truth."

He leaned in and kissed her lightly on the mouth, tangling a hand in her hair. "It's fine. You don't need to apologize," he assured her quietly.

Chloe returned the kiss then looked at him for a moment longer and kissed him again, deeply this time, but slowly.

Oliver brushed his nose over hers and smiled softly. "How did I get so lucky?"

"It seems to be the norm," she whispered, smiling softly back at him, "which is the other thing I haven't told you."

"What is?" He wound his arms around her waist, leaning his forehead against hers.

"When I met the other you," she said quietly, "he told me that he was married to a version of me."

Oliver's eyes widened a little. "Really?"

Chloe nodded a little and smiled softly at his expression, "he said they'd been together for three years."

He smiled back at her. "Then I guess I'm universally lucky." He kissed her cheek.

She grinned a little, "he also told me she was six months pregnant," she told him, "but I think we need to wait a long time before _that_ happens." She added quickly.

His eyes widened. "Wow," he whispered.

Chloe pursed her lips together and nodded a little, "yeah, this is why I didn't want to tell you about it earlier because I didn't want things to happen between us because you thought that's how it was supposed to be."

He nodded, watching her, still wide-eyed. "But apparently it _is_ how it's supposed to be."

She took a deep breath and nodded a little, brushing her fingers through his hair, "apparently it is."

Oliver relaxed a little, brushing his lips against her forehead. "Thank God," he whispered.

With a nod, she smiled a little and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him to her, "my life wouldn't feel right without you in it."

Oliver hugged her to him, resting his chin atop her head. "Ditto," he murmured.

Chloe smiled softly and brushed her nose against his neck, "I love you, Ollie."

"I love you, too," he whispered, pressing a soft kiss to her temple.

She took a deep breath and lifted her head, watching him closely, "thank you for changing my life too."

He smiled at that, holding her gaze, then dipping his head to kiss her.

Chloe kissed him back and pulled him closer. They still had a lot to do as far as his role as Green Arrow went and how she helped him get through his patrols as well as making sure he was as safe as possible while he was out there, but the fact that they were obviously on the right path definitely helped.


End file.
